NHS Blood and Transplant admits transplant data unencrypted on pagers
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) just admitted to a pretty serious data leak.
Sensitive details about transplant patients, like their names, birth dates, organ types, and risk factors, were sent over old-school pagers without encryption.
Even though pagers were supposed to be ditched by 2021, some teams kept using them anyway.
NHSBT apologizes and notifies Information Commissioner
NHSBT has apologized and reported the breach to the Information Commissioner. They've stopped using pagers for anything confidential.
A BBC investigation also found ambulance services were still using unencrypted pagers for sharing patient information, which experts say is risky since anyone nearby could intercept those messages.
An internal review is underway, and the Information Commissioner's Office is looking into it too.