Medical records firm declares bankruptcy after data breach

The former chairman of Impairment Resources says if he were starting a new company, he might address security issues a bit differently than in the past.

"I'd look for whoever was my IT consultant or vendor to be very experienced in security matters, all aspects of that," he said. "I'd probably look at, with changing technologies, whether to host locally on a server in the office versus having that in a cloud platform."

That's one of the takeaways for Chris Brigham six months after the company filed for bankruptcy protection. The former medical records firm was the victim of a burglary at its San Diego headquarters, leading to the potential escape of information on some 14,000 claimants.

Flooding prompts call to reduce mold risks (06/20/11)
Telecommuters pose added risks for employers (08/01/11)
New Jersey blood clot case raises questions for comp community (08/01/11)
Criteria outlines exit strategy for employers under special scrutiny (09/27/12)
Survey shows workers largely unaware of employers' safety efforts (08/02/12)

While Brigham and other company officials doubt any personal information was actually compromised, the very threat of it became too expensive a proposition for the company to continue operating. Technology experts say the experience of Impairment Resources is all too familiar and should serve as a warning for companies to be vigilant about protecting their data.

October 8, 2012

Newsletter Sign-up