INDIANA COMPUTER STOLEN Warrick Publishing, Inc.: Community News - SWIRCA laptop computer stolen:

SWIRCA laptop computer stolen

Posted Friday, December 10, 2010 5:00 pm

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The Southwestern Indiana Regional Council on Aging, Inc. (SWIRCA) is in the process of notifying 757 clients of a breach of their protected personal information due to the theft of a case manager's laptop computer from SWIRCA's offices. The theft occurred sometime between 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 4 when the case manager last used the laptop and 8 a.m. on Nov. 8, when the case manager returned to work to find the laptop missing. The Evansville Police Department was immediately notified of the theft.

The computer files on the laptop contained personal information on 757 clients, including each person's full name and address, phone number, date of birth, Social Security Number, sex, age, race, marital status, living arrangement, Medicare and/or Medicaid status, general medical condition, veteran status and additional case information such as support plans, plans of care, case and progress notes and income and deductions information.

Access to the stolen computer is protected by a password; access to the computer files which contain the client information is protected by a second password. However, it is still technically possible for someone to hack into the computer and access the files.

At this point, SWIRCA has no evidence that someone has accessed the computer files on the laptop. However, the organizations strongly recommends that clients of SWIRCA (or their personal representatives or next of kin) contact one of the three credit reporting bureaus and place a fraud alert on their credit report. The three bureaus are: Equifax, 888-766-0008 or www.equifax.com; Experian, 888-379-3742 or www.experian. com; and TransUnion, 800-680-7289 or www.transunion.com.

Clients should contact SWIRCA immediately if one of the credit bureaus reports that someone has attempted to open an account in their name. If SWIRCA clients have any questions or require additional information, they should contact Jean Tillery, Assistant Executive Director, SWIRCA and More, 16 W. Virginia Street, P.O. Box 3938, Evansville, Ind. 47737-3938; 464-7800; or jtillery@swirca.org.

SWIRCA will also post any updates on this situation on its Web site, www.swirca.org.

SWIRCA is currently evaluating its security procedures to improve both its physical security and technical security so that the chance of a similar incident occurring in the future would be highly limited.