20000 patient records disappear in hospital laptop theft

Around 20000 confidential patient records have gone missing after thieves stole six laptops from St George's Hospital in the UK.  According to hospital Chief Executive, David Astley, the laptops were stored in a locked filing cabinet which the thieves forced open. This must've been suprising for staff as Mr Astley bizarrely added that "nobody expects thieves to break into locked drawers".

The Register reports that although the records were password protected, this can be circumvented by restarting the laptops with a different operating system.

More details at The Register:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/18/tooting_hospital_data_theft_a_lula/