OHIO STOLEN COMPUTER CONTAINED STATE WORKER'S SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS Stolen computer contained state workers' Social Security numbers -- Newsday.com

February 28, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) _ A company that manages state employees' prescription drug benefits waited six weeks to tell the state about the theft of a computer containing Social Security numbers and other personal data for thousands of workers.

The delay by Medco Health Solutions was unacceptable, said Ben Piscitelli, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Administrative Services.

"Time is of the essence when dealing with something like this. We should have known as soon as possible so employees could take steps to protect themselves against identity theft," Piscitelli said.

The laptop was stolen Dec. 28 from a Medco employee doing a routine audit of prescription drug transactions while out of the office, said Soraya Balzac, a spokeswoman for the Franklin Lakes, N.J.-based company.

Medco, which the state pays $2 million a year to manage prescription drug coverage, did not notify Ohio officials until Feb. 8 because the company needed to conduct its own investigation, along with local law-enforcement agencies in New Jersey, Balzac said Tuesday. It also needed time to determine what information was on the computer, which was password-protected, she said.

The laptop contained Social Security numbers for 4,599 state workers or their dependents, birth dates and in some cases their prescription drug history. Names, addresses and financial information were not on the computer, Balzac said.

"We don't believe it was stolen for the data that it holds," Balzac said.

The company has mailed letters to state workers whose information was on the laptop, advising them to check their credit reports regularly. Medco will provide them with free credit monitoring for a year.