Two laptops containing the health information of more than 300,000 people were reported stolen from Alberta Health Services, leading the information and privacy commissioner of the Canadian province to question the organization's level of security.

The laptops were stolen from a research lab at the University of Alberta Hospital earlier this month, according to the Edmonton Journal.

Information on the laptops included names, birth dates, personal health numbers and lab test results for communicable and reportable diseases that reportedly were not encrypted.

"This is shocking for me... I don't know what we have to do to drive this message home," said Privacy Commissioner Frank Work. "The standard in Alberta for storing personal or health information on portable devices is encryption. I can't accept anything less. This is highly sensitive information and an issue of public trust. How can the public have faith in public bodies if they can't provide security for personal information?"

"The public should not be concerned," Bill Trafford, chief information officer of the AHS, told the Edmonton Journal. "We believe there's very, very low risk of any information on those devices being made accessible to anybody else."

 Work said although AHS did have layers of protection on the stolen laptops, the final layer was not there, and thus a risk remains – even if it is low.

"A person with motivation and sufficient skills could still access the information," he said. "Risk remains without properly implemented encryption. The measures they had in place are better than nothing, but not good enough."

"Encryption technology is readily available, and if you are going to store personal information on a portable device, you had better make sure that encrypting that information is a priority, a part of your business model and an everyday occurrence, like making sure the door is locked before you leave home," he added.

The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner has launched an investigation into the stolen laptops.

"We will be working very closely with AHS to make sure they understand their obligations and to ensure that steps are taken to prevent this from happening again," Work said.