Miami Herald; Saturday, December 4, 1993
Andres Viglucci; Herald Staff Writer

Metro-Dade police say the burglary bore some markings of an inside job, raising concern among officials, patients and AIDS activists that the thieves were after the highly confidential records.

But hospital administrators and state health officials say no evidence has surfaced that the names or records have leaked out or been used in any way since the burglary, which occurred nearly three weeks ago.

"We don't have any knowledge that would indicate they were going for the specific information, but I can't say that with certainty," said Jackson spokesman Mark Cohen.

Officials also stressed that the software is protected by several security measures. Information contained on the diskettes and the computers' hard drives cannot be called up without knowledge of access codes and passwords, they said.

"To get at either one of them, you've got to have several codes," said Jim Towey, secretary of the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, which is investigating the theft along with Metro-Dade and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. "The security is not easy to breach."

But he added: "Even if the possibility is extremely remote, I won't feel comfortable until this crime has been solved, and we're doing everything we can."

Officials had not publicized the burglary, partly out of fear of alarming patients. But word got out, raising concerns among patients and activists about a potentially serious breach of confidentiality and possible misuse of the records. Records of people with HIV are among the most confidential in the state, protected by a law that makes it a crime to disclose information in them without authorization.

"This is really disturbing," said Jim Pruitt, a leading Dade AIDS activist. "People are really fearful about their confidentiality. Some of the people who receive services are acutely sensitive to this, and understandably so.

"I would not want to panic people whose names are in those computers. But I do have a significant question about their security for data" at Jackson, Pruitt said.

The missing computers and diskettes contain names and records of at least some 6,000 to 7,000 people who are receiving assistance through Jackson's South Florida AIDS Network. The network, funded mainly through the state and federal government, is the principal agency arranging publicly supported medical care, counseling and social services for people with HIV in Dade County.

The stolen database does not contain medical records, but lists the various services used by each of the network's patients, possibly as far back as the agency's founding in 1986, hospital officials said.

The network offices are housed in the former Dade medical examiner's offices, a separate building on the Jackson campus. Employees discovered the theft when they returned to work after the weekend on Monday, Nov. 15.

Someone had slipped into the building and gotten into two double-locked offices where the computers were bolted on desktops. Police said there were no signs of forced entry, raising the possibility that the thieves had keys. Also taken were a pair of printers. No paper files were missing.

Barbara Loyd , the network's administrator, said the computers appeared to have been yanked off the desks.

She said the agency still has copies of all the records the thieves carried off. They did not take backup diskettes which are kept in locked cabinets, Loyd said.

Police have questioned everyone who had keys, Loyd said, but investigators would not discuss the case Friday.

Even if the thieves manage to gain access to the computerized patient records, Loyd and others said, they question what use they could be put to.

"I am concerned about it. It makes people feel compromised," Loyd said. "But I don't think they can do a lot with it."

But Pruitt, the AIDS activist, said news of the theft could hurt patients' confidence in the program, because it must be able to guarantee strict confidentiality to operate effectively.

"My problem is alarming people who need care and might be freaked out at the idea that someone might find out, and what this theft might say to them," he said. "People don't do the things they should do for themselves because of fear others will find out."

Towey, the HRS secretary, said agency officials who oversee the network felt security measures there were adequate. But he said he was sufficiently alarmed by the burglary to send out inspectors to spot-check security at 35 county health departments and AIDS agencies across the state.

"The security is better than I feared, but there are some places where it can be tightened up, and we're doing that," he said. "However, there is no place that is real vulnerable."

He would not disclose details, saying he would do so sometime next week.

Herald staff writer April Witt contributed to this report.

CAPTION: PHOTO Barbara Loyd (BUSINESS BRIEFLY-5/16/90)

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