A laptop containing personal information on more than half a
million New York state workers has been found after it disappeared from the offices of a third-party
data management company.
In a statement the company -- Chicago-based CS Stars -- said the
laptop belonging to the New York Special Funds Conservation
Committee "has been found and secured."
Al Modugno, a spokesman for CS Stars, said he was notified of
the laptop's recovery, though he would not comment further on
whether it had been lost or stolen, adding that the incident is
still being probed by law enforcement authorities.
"That's part of what the FBI is still investigating," Modugno
said. "I can't really give you any more detail on that."
Modugno said the FBI told CS Stars that the agency is reasonably
certain that there was no improper use of any of the data stored on
the laptop.
The FBI has the laptop and is still analyzing it, he said.
The laptop contains the names, addresses and Social Security
numbers of about 540,000 state employees.
The New York Special Funds Conservation Committee is a
non-profit organization that deals with special funds related to
the New York State Worker's Compensation Board.
John Sullivan, a spokesman for the board, said his agency had
been notified that the laptop was found.
CS Stars mailed letters to the 540,000 people whose data might
have been affected by the incident, according to the company.
Each of the affected workers was offered credit monitoring
services for 12 months and US$25,000 in identity theft insurance,
Modugno said.
The delay between the disappearance of the laptop and the
mailing of the letters occurred because the CS Stars employee who
determined that the laptop was missing didn't report it to his
company, Modugno said.
An internal investigation verified that the machine was missing,
then the state agency was notified of the problem, he said.
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