It has been reported that three laptops were stolen from a locked storage closet in an American Red Cross office in Dallas, Texas last month.  One of the laptops stolen contains the Social Security numbers and medical history of blood donors.  The Red Cross, however, is not currently looking at the missing laptop as a security breach, according to the organization.  Police authorities and national Red Cross offices were notified after the laptops vanished.  Even though the Red Cross has no obligation to inform donors of the laptop theft, privacy experts have recommended that the organization informs donors immediately.

Because there was no forced entry into the offices, it is possible that an employee stole the laptops. However, a spokesman for that national American Red Cross office believes there is no reason to suspect employees at this time.

Red Cross officials have announced that the data was encrypted to ensure it would be harder for the information to be accessed.  Access to the encrypted files is time-and-date based, which means the information can only be accessed when there is a blood drive or the donor information is being uploaded to a central Red Cross server.

Recently, a notebook with data from more than 26 million US military veterans was stolen, but just recently returned. It is not clear yet how much data was on the notebooks missing from the Red Cross.