INDIANA FEMA COMPUTER STOLEN FEMA laptop with flood victim info stolen :: Local News :: Post-Tribune:

FEMA laptop with flood victim info stolen

March 6, 2009

By Diane Krieger Spivak

Post-Tribune staff writer

A laptop containing Social Security numbers and other personal information from dozens of victims of last September's floods was reported stolen from a housing inspector's car, federal officials acknowledged Thursday.

Representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday they are alerting "roughly 50" flood victims from Gary, Hammond, Highland, Griffith and Munster whose information was stored in the laptop after they applied for federal disaster assistance.

The password-protected laptop was stolen from a housing inspector's car in Griffith on Nov. 4, containing names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses and phone numbers of people who applied for assistance, said FEMA Region 5 spokeswoman Cat Langel.

Langel did not say why a housing inspector had access to the computer, who the inspector worked for or how the laptop was stolen. The inspector immediately reported the theft, she said.

The agency has an 18-month subscription to an identity theft protection service for affected applicants, providing identity theft insurance and fraud resolution, Langel said. So far, there have been no reports of identity theft resulting from the computer theft, she said.

"FEMA regrets that some disaster applicants may have had certain personal information placed at risk as a result of this theft," Langel said in an e-mail. "The agency is making every effort to protect those affected and to prevent such an incidence from occurring again in the future."

Langel said 13 laptops with federally collected information were stolen last year. Each was password protected, she said, and there have been no reports of identity theft as a result of the thefts.

The agency started contacting local flood victims by phone and by mail this week, Langel said -- more than four months after floods devastated the region in September. Langel said that's about how long it takes to identify victims and determine a course of action.

"With any such event, it takes time to gather the relevant information, identify the affected individuals, hold the necessary internal discussions, make the appropriate decisions, and line up the assistance services that are being offered," Langel said in the e-mail.

Representatives from a California-based not-for-profit agency support that contention.

Linda Foley, founder of the ID Theft Resource Center -- a 10-year-old victim's assistance agency based in San Diego -- said four months is not uncommon for an agency to notify at-risk persons.

"It may have taken that long to reconstruct the data base so as not to tip anyone off," Foley said. "FEMA is trying to be transparent and earn the trust of people trying to depend on them.

"It sounds like they are taking a very personal position on this notifying people directly, which I admire," she said. "They're taking a responsible way of handling the situation."

Contact Diane Krieger Spivak at 648-3076 or dspivak@post-trib.com Comment on this story at www.post-trib.com.