Community Catalysts of California is notifying more than a thousand current and former clients that the residence of an employee was burglarized and a flash drive containing their personal information was stolen.
How many victims? 1,182.
What type of personal information? Names, addresses, diagnoses, dates of birth, ages, genders, telephone numbers. Social Security numbers were included for 18 clients.
What happened? The residence of a Community Catalysts of California employee was burglarized and a flash drive containing the personal information of current and former clients was stolen.
What was the response? Law enforcement has been notified. Community Catalysts of California is retraining staff on company policies and procedures, and ensuring that employees are using encrypted devices. All affected individuals are being notified, and those who had Social Security numbers included are being offered a free year of identity protection services.
Details: The theft occurred on our about Aug. 31, and Community Catalysts of California was notified of the incident on Sept. 8. The flash drive was stolen from the employee's car, which was parked in a locked garage.
Quote: “In addition, although there is no evidence that suggests any of the information has been misused, Community Catalysts of California has included steps that can be taken to protect personal information in the written notification communication,” a notification letter said.
Source: oag.ca.gov, “Data Security Incident,” Oct. 16, 2015.
