The Charleston Gazette has reported that employees of the state of West Virginia are being contacted to be alerted that their personal information, including social security number, is stored on a laptop that has been stolen in early October. Over 400 employees with the state insurance commission and over 100 employees with the Bureau of Medical Services and Child Support Enforcement Division of the Department of Health and Human Resources are affected by this computer theft.

Letters are being sent to those affected to notify them of this data breach. Those affected are being encouraged to do all that they can to protect themselves, including using a fraud alert service.

The laptop containing the information was in the possession of an accounting firm employee and was stolen from their automobile when it was parked in a parking lot in downtown Charleston. The police report revealed that the laptop was left on the car seat, making it a visible target, so it was not necessarily stolen for the valuable information on it, but rather because of the opportunity available to the thief.

Details of the information contained on the laptop include: full or first names, payroll, benefits and social security numbers. All of this information is password protected on the computer. The department’s administrative spokesperson, Diane Holley, has stated: “It is our protocol to send out notification, even though we feel the information has not been compromised.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 16th, 2008 at 6:15 am and is filed under Data Breach. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.