Data Theft Leads to Identity Theft Warning

This data breach was first reported by local TV earlier this week as a loss of patient records. Now it appears only hospital employees were effected.

On June 24, employees of Thomas Memorial Hospital and St. Francis Hospital received letters from Medical Excess, a medical insurance company, stating there was a break-in at the Medical Excess office where a camera, two laptop computers and a file server was stolen.

The file server contained individual names with corresponding Social Security numbers and birth dates. The letter advised the hospital employees to watch for any unusual activity on their credit card accounts.

McGraw's office determined the break-in exposed more than 900,000 persons to possible identity theft.

This is the first time I every have heard of someone walking off with an entire file server. Most thefts of this nature involve laptops or back-up tapes. A file server would be a little hard to carry off.

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