COLORADO COMPUTER HARD DRIVE STOLEN FROM UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN COLORADOGreeley Tribune - NewsComputer hard drive missing from UNC

Mike Peters, peters@greeleytrib.com
January 21, 2005

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University of Northern Colorado officials announced Thursday a computer hard drive containing the personal information of 15,790 UNC employees is missing.
The missing hard drive, described as "easily removable," is the subject of an intense investigation by university police. It is not a normal computer hard drive, but can be plugged into a computer as a type of back-up system, and information can be removed easily. University officials described the hard drive as the size of a flat, medium-sized notebook.

The hard drive contains information on all employees dating back to April 1997, including the employees' full names, Social Security numbers,

bank account numbers, addresses, dates of birth and pay schedules. The 1employees include full-time, part-time and student employees. The hard drive was reported missing from the Information Technology Department.

At a meeting at Butler-Hancock Hall on Thursday night, UNC President Kay Norton informed employees of security precautions to take to protect their bank accounts and personal information.

About 100 people attended Thursday's meeting. Patty Roberts, 52, of Fort Collins worked for UNC for nine years until November 2004 and found out about the missing hard drive after she happened to be on campus and ran into a former colleague.

"I'm alarmed and concerned, wondering if I need to change my bank account info because I have the same bank account," Roberts said.

Elizabeth Gracey, 62, of Greeley works as an administrative assistant for the physics department at UNC. Even though she is protected from identity theft through a legal service, she plans to call her banks and the credit companies.

Gracey said she appreciates that UNC advised its employees so they could be proactive.

UNC police have opened a criminal investigation on the missing hard drive, but calls were not returned Thursday night. It's unknown if the hard drive was stolen, taken by accident or just misplaced.

Reynolds said if the hard drive was taken deliberately, it would take some computer expertise and special equipment to retrieve the information.

"There is no evidence that any of the data has been used illegally," Reynolds said. "However, it is possible that data could be used for identity theft."

What now?

* Contact banks and monitor accounts

* Put a fraud alert on your credit report by calling, Equifax (800) 525-6285, Experian (888) 397-3742, TransUnion (800) 680-7289.

* If have any information on the missing hard drive, call (970) 353-2847.

* A meeting on the missing hard drive will be at 3 p.m. today in the University Center.