MINNESOTA COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM STATE AUDITOR'S OFFICE http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/14809430.htm

Computer thieves got personal data from state auditor's office

BY PATRICK SWEENEY
Pioneer Press

Three laptop computers containing private information on about 2,400 public employees and citizens who use government programs were reported stolen last week from the offices of Minnesota Auditor Patricia Anderson.


The private information included Social Security numbers for about 500 people. "It's a very bad thing," Anderson said. But she said she believed the computers were stolen for their own value, rather than for the data they contained.

"Obviously, we take this very seriously," said Tony Sutton, a spokesman for Anderson. "So today and tomorrow we're going to be sending out letters to the people letting them know their private data was stolen."

The laptops were discovered missing late Thursday from a locked fourth-floor office suite in Anderson's rented office quarters at 525 Park Street in St. Paul. But the theft was not reported to St. Paul police until Saturday.

The computers held mostly samples of city and county employee records, plus data on recipients of public human service programs, such as welfare and state-subsidized health care, Sutton said..

All the information was backed up on other computers, according to Anderson and Sutton. The data came from 14 counties, two cities, the Metropolitan Council, one township and a job-training program operated by Stearns and Benton counties.

Names and Social Security numbers of 493 people were stored on the computers, plus private data -- such as dates of birth and the pubic programs being accessed by benefit recipients -- on 1,918 other people, according to an inventory produced Tuesday by Anderson's staff.

The information was included in municipal records that Anderson's staff was auditing. While the computers were password-protected, the data was not encrypted.

According to Anderson, members of her staff discovered the laptops missing late Thursday. She said she was not in her office Friday, but the theft was reported to top aides on Friday.

She said the aides spent much of Friday trying to make sure the laptops were really missing, locating their serial numbers and then beginning the inventory of the data they contained. She said members of her staff tried to make a police report on Friday, and then actually made the report on Saturday.

Patrick Sweeney covers state government and its effect on Minnesotans. He can be reached at psweeney@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5253