The Multnomah County Health Department in Portland, Oregon, issued a statement on Friday, revealing that more than 1,000 individuals might have had their private information compromised in a recent data breach incident. While the department assured that sensitive details like Social Security and drivers’ license numbers remained secure, other data, including Medicaid ID, medical record number, race, ethnicity, gender, and date of birth, were potentially accessed.
According to the county’s disclosure, the breach originated in early March when a Health Department employee departed without returning their county-issued laptop. However, it wasn’t until April that suspicions were raised about unusual activities on the computer, prompting an internal investigation into the matter. Subsequently, the county filed a report with the Portland police after the employee in question failed to comply with requests to return the laptop.
In response to the breach, the Health Department took proactive measures by remotely deleting the files on the laptop when it was discovered that the former employee’s login credentials were still being used to access the device. Despite these efforts to contain the situation, the department emphasized the importance of remaining vigilant and encouraged affected individuals to enroll in identity theft protection services and sign up for free fraud alerts from major credit bureaus. Additionally, they assured the public that no other Multnomah County information systems were affected by the breach.
