More than 7.8 million people were victims of healthcare data breaches from 2009 to 2010, the Health and Human Services Department said in a recent report to Congress.

The report found there were 252 major data breaches during a 15-month period.

Nearly half of the largest breaches were the result of theft — the largest affected more than 1 million people’s medical records stolen from the back-up tapes of a vendor.

However most of the thefts involved unattended laptops.

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