Wake County Take Measures to Protect Personal Information of Patients, Staff
2/7/2008
Wake County has hired National ID Recovery, LLC, a company specializing in monitoring potential fraud cases, after a Wake County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) laptop computer containing the personal information of patients and EMS staff disappeared from the WakeMed Emergency Department on Thursday, January 17, 2008. Private information regarding up to 1,188 patients and 3,545 EMS and Fire/Rescue personnel may be stored on the computer.
"We are taking a very aggressive approach in our response to the missing laptop," said Wake County EMS Chief, Skip Kirkwood. "We are paying for identity protection services for everyone whose name may have been accessible through the laptop, not just the ones with a social security number."
Wake County is sending letters on Friday, February 8, 2008, to everyone whose personal information may have been stored on the missing laptop computer. The letter details the precautionary measures the recipients need to take, including information on how to receive the free identity protection services from National ID Recovery.
Wake County takes great care to protect the personal information stored on all of its computers and has received the highest rating possible on the security of its data network. The County Information Services (IS) Department is in the process of extending this levelof security to computers used in the field with the installation of specialized data encyrption software on a targeted group of devices, including all EMS laptops.
Wake County EMS has developed a policy for storing, handling and responding to loss of Patient Care Reporting System laptop computers.
National ID Recovery, LLC, specializes in managing situations in which data may have been compromised, as well as in Identity Theft Recovery. National ID Recovery will assist citizens and employees by placing fraud alerts with the three credit bureaus, order copies of their credit reports for review and provide Identity Monitoring. Citizens are asked to call 1-800-836-5679 and speak with a trained paralegal to enroll in this free program.
Citizens who enroll in the plan will receive fraud alert placement with all three credit bureaus, credit reports from all three credit bureaus, assistance in credit report review, assisted credit monitoring throughout the coming year, and enrollment in National ID Recovery's Identity Theft Recovery Program for 12 months at no charge. Wake County will also provide enrollment in IDAlert, a nationwide database search to offer further protection against potential identity theft. Wake County will provide these services and protective measures at no cost to the affected patients and employees.
The Panasonic Toughbook laptop computer, model CF29 has silver and black casing and a handle. The Toughbook weighs 8 lbs. and has a Wake County property label with the identification number DP 16096. Anyone having knowledge of the location of this computer is urged to call Jeffrey Hammerstein at (919) 625-3260.
www.wakegov.com
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