ILLINOIS PERSONAL DATA ON STOLEN COMPUTER http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/Laptop.Dezonia.ID.2.958082.html

Stolen Laptop Could Lead To ID Thefts

Company Computer Stored Records Of Ambulance Users

CHICAGO (CBS) ―

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How would you feel if you discovered some of your most important personal information could be in the wrong hands and found out more than a month after it was compromised?

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The theft of one computer could impact anyone who's ever been in a Chicago Fire Department ambulance. CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports.

The city of Chicago bills people for ambulance rides -- $600 and up. The city uses an outside company to do it.

Last Christmas break, 17-year-old Patrick Shore got sick. So, he called 911, and a Chicago Fire Department ambulance took him to the hospital. Over the past several years, heart issues have put his mom, Lisa, in the back of CFD ambulances, too. Now, they've got something else to worry about.

"It's pretty scary," Lisa Shore said.

A letter is what scared her. She got it today from The Dezonia Group -- the company that bills people for the city's ambulance rides. The letter informs her that an employee's laptop, containing patient names, addresses and social security numbers, was stolen six weeks ago. And it's never been recovered.

"I'm gonna have to walk around paranoid now worrying if someone got a hold of my information," Shore said.

Hers - and thousands of other people who've been taken to the hospital by Chicago paramedics.

The city outsourced the ambulance-billing process to Dezonia two years ago. In the letter, company officials write, "We take our responsibility to protect sensitive information seriously and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you."

The letter goes on to recommend that people like Lisa put a fraud alert or security freeze on their credit files, frequently check their credit reports and file a police report -- just in case. The company's also offering a free year of credit-monitoring service to its clients. Lisa Shore says that's too little, too late.

"What good is that going to do me if someone gets ahold of my Social Security number?" said Shore, who wondered who would reimburse her legal expenses.

Calls to the city and Dezonia group were not returned, so it's unclear how many people here and nationwide might be impacted by this potential information breach.

In that letter, Dezonia officials say they've intensified security procedures so this can't happen again.

But still, Shore and others can only hope this breech doesn't come back to haunt them.