Seton Northwest Hospital Experiences Data Breach Following Device Theft

Austin, Texas-based Seton Northwest Hospital, part of Seton Healthcare Family, has notified patients their personal and health information was contained on a desktop computer device that was stolen from the hospital's sleep lab, according to a KTBC report.

The stolen device, used to manipulate data from sleep studies, was password-protected.

The device did not have the same capabilities and functionalities of a standard computer according to the report.

The hospital discovered the theft Feb. 28. The device contained approximately 180 patients' names, dates of birth and Seton account numbers, according to the report. 

As a result of the theft, Seton Healthcare has offered affected patients one year of free ID protection and has enhanced physical security for its sleep lab facilities to help prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future, according to the report.

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