Tue Feb 09 2010
COLUMBUS (AP) " A disk with personal information on all 64,000 state employees, including their Social Security numbers, was stolen from a state worker's car last Sunday, Gov. Ted Strickland said Friday.
Strickland said he doesn't believe worker privacy is in jeopardy because it would take special equipment to access the information.
In a news conference, Strickland said the employee mistakenly left the disk in a vehicle parked outside an apartment when it was supposed to be taken into the worker's home as part of a protocol in place since 2002. The employee is being investigated. The disk is a backup, he said.
There is no reason to believe there has been a breach of security, he said. The state will provide state employees access to free identity protection services for the next year.
Strickland also issued an executive order that would change state procedures for handling the data.
It was just the latest case of personal information on thousands of employees disappearing or being inappropriately accessed. Several universities, including Ohio State University and Ohio University, and even the Veterans Affairs Department have reported lost or stolen data.
In 2006, Ohio University discovered breaches that had exposed 173,000 files containing Social Security numbers, names, medical records and home addresses to data theft of workers and alumni. Someone hacked into an Ohio State University computer and stole the personal information of more than 14,000 current and former faculty and staff members in March.
Data theft also has been a problem with several corporations. TJX Cos., the operator of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, disclosed in January that a data theft exposed at least 45 million credit and debit cards to potential fraud. In March 2005, the parent company of Dayton, Ohio-based Lexis Nexis said hackers got access to personal information on as many as 32,000 U.S. citizens in a database owned by Lexis Nexis.
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