Officials with the California Department of Public Health are continuing an investigation into a data breach that occurred this spring involving the personal information of several thousand current and former employees.

An agency investigation found that the personal and workers’ compensation information of approximately 9,000 current and former state employees was improperly copied to a private hard drive and removed from state offices, according to a statement first issued late last month by California Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ron Chapman.

Chapman said the agency regretted that the information was compromised, adding, “We take the breach of any secure documents very seriously and are committed to taking steps to minimize any impact of this action and further strengthen our security policy.”

Impacted are most current California Department of Public Health and California Department of Health Care Services employees, along with nearly 3,000 employees of the former Department of Health Services, according to the agency's report.

The personal information at issue included individual names and addresses, varying combinations of Social Security numbers, ethnicity, birth dates, next of kin and the addresses of those individuals listed as next of kin, and/or information from workers’ compensation documents, according to an agency report.

“The investigation continues,” said California Department of Public Health spokesman Al Lundeen.

Lundeen told Lake County News that the data breach occurred when an employee, who had access to the information, copied it and took it home in violation of agency rules.

On April 5 the Department of Public Health was alerted to the activity, which was discovered by the department’s security detection system. The agency reported that it immediately initiated an investigation and discovered the information's unauthorized removal before placing the employee on administrative leave while the investigation takes place.

Lundeen said the investigation has uncovered no evidence whatsoever that the information was disclosed or misused.

He said the agency has offered credit monitoring services to anyone impacted by the breach.

“Several hundred people have already requested that,” he said.

Also under way are new internal safeguards to protect employee information and a thorough review of information security policies. The Department of Public Health said it will put in place any additional necessary policies or practices to help prevent such an incident from happening again.

Last year, the Department of Public Health had another data breach issue which Lundeen said involved a few thousand individuals.

Lundeen said that incident involved a magnetic tape from a field office that was shipped to the department's headquarters. The tape – which included information about patients in longterm care facilities, employees and some medical personnel – was supposed to be encrypted and sent by a secure carrier but wasn't.

He said there now are policies in place to stop such issues.

There's also an effort to back up such material remotely so there is no need for shipping it. “We haven't resolved that issue technically,” he said.

Health data breaches are a nationwide issue and, as a result, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is required by law to post a list of breaches of unsecured, protected health information affecting 500 or more individuals.

In April 2010, the California Department of Health Care Services had a data breach affecting approximately 29,808 people in the Care 1st Health Plan, according to the Health and Human Services secretary's database. That issue involved the loss of a portable electronic device.

The Health and Human Services secretary's database records 292 incidents involving the compromising or loss of data between September 2009 and May 2011.

Information was compromised in a variety of ways, from hacking of networks and unauthorized access to materials, to theft of paper, hard drives or other portable devices such as laptop computers.

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