A laptop computer was stolen from a human resource employee's personal vehicle on Feb. 2, the city said. The computer contained sensitive personal information for an unknown number of city employees, including names, addresses, birthdays, Social Security numbers and medical information otherwise protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
City officials said the employee failed to follow training about keeping sensitive information private. City employees are discouraged from bringing their work laptops out of the office unless the sensitive information found on the laptop is secured by an encryption.
Detectives with the Houston Police Department and Office of Inspector General are working to determine how much, if any, information has been compromised. In the meantime, the city is sending out official notices to employees who might be affected.
The city is also offering free credit monitoring and other identity restoration services to those employees.
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