Baltimore County workers' personal information stolen

Marcos Colon, Digital Content Coordinator

November 01, 2013 Baltimore County workers' personal information stolen

The personal information of current and past Baltimore County employees was stolen by a former employee of a county information technology contractor.
How many victims? More than 12,000 current and former Baltimore County employees.
What type of personal information? Social Security numbers, home addresses, salaries, leave balances, and county identification numbers.
What happened? The personal information of current and past Baltimore County employees was found on the computer of a man who was a former employee of an information technology contractor hired by the county. County officials believe the information was accessed when the suspect brought a new computer to a county employee who had downloaded the information as part of a work assignment.
What was the response? County officials sent letters to those affected by the breach, informing them that no personal financial information of any current or former employee was found on the computer.
Details: Authorities discovered the data while investigating an unrelated identity theft case in which the alleged perpetrator was involved. In spring of 2013, he was indicted by the Baltimore County state attorney's office after a neighbor filed a complaint that he had made purchases using fake checks and IDs. After authorities executed a search warrant on his home, personal items, including his computer, were seized. He fled the state and wasn't arrested.
On October 15, he was taken into custody in another state and he will now be extradited to Maryland to face identity theft charges that are unrelated to the Baltimore County employees incident.
Quote: “At this time, there is no evidence that any employee's information was misused in any way,” Fred Homan, county administrative officer, wrote in a letter to those affected by the breach.
Source: baltimoresun.com, The Baltimore Sun, “Former employee of contractor obtained Balt. Co. workers' personal data,” Oct. 31, 2013.

http://www.scmagazine.com/baltimore-county-workers-personal-information-stolen/article/319162/