The information on the lost tape includes: social security numbers for CDPH employees, facility residents, and health care workers; employee e-mails; investigative reports; and the names of residents and some information on their medical diagnosis, the agency said in a statement.
Kevin Reilly, the CDPH chief deputy director for policy and programs, was quoted by the HealthLeaders Media website as saying, “This is definitely the largest breach of confidential and private information we’ve had at the Department of Public Health.”
The incident occurred when a CDPH field office in West Covina, Calif., sent a magnetic tape in the mail to the central office in Sacramento as part of the procedure for backing up its computer data.
On September 27, 2010, the central office received the envelope, which was unsealed and empty. CDPH reported the breach to the state’s Office of Information Security and began an investigation of the incident.
On November 23, 2010, CDPH completed compiling the list of individuals whose medical or other personal information may have been compromised as a result of the lost tape.
The CDPH said it is notifying those affected by the data breach and advising them how to protect themselves from identity theft. “At this point, there is no evidence that unauthorized parties have acquired or accessed personal information”, the agency said.