Editorial: Personal data risk

Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007 | 7:24 a.m.

Hundreds of computer disks containing personal information about thousands of state employees have been missing since July, but state officials still have not notified the workers who may be affected.

The Las Vegas Sun reported that the loss of 479 disks from a number of state agencies was revealed last week at a personnel hearing in which James Elste, former chief of information security for the state Information Technology Department, was fighting to get his job back. Elste was fired shortly after he disclosed in July that the disks were missing, the Sun's Cy Ryan reported. State personnel officials have said Elste was fired for reasons not related to the loss of the disks.

The disks are not password-protected and contain data such as state employees' Social Security numbers, which, of course, could be used to gain access to bank and credit card accounts and to create accounts without the workers' knowledge.

Astonishingly, state officials - some of whom presumably have known about the loss for four months - have not publicly revealed which departments are affected and have not notified the workers who could be at risk.

State Personnel Director Todd Rich told the Sun the Nevada attorney general's office is examining the situation and will advise each of the affected agencies whether it must notify the workers about the loss.

Meanwhile, Rich said, no state employees have complained that their identities have been stolen.

That's hardly reassuring. Most people don't know their identities have been tampered with until they try to purchase a home, a car or another major item.

Ultimately, the burden of cleaning up personal credit falls on the individual whose identity has been stolen. Workers who may be victims because of the state's ineptitude in handling these disks should, without question, be notified so they can take steps to safeguard themselves.