DHHS secures 3,829 laptops

Aim is to protect confidential data

Nearly 4,000 agency laptops have been loaded with security software to protect confidential information, the state Department of Health and Human Services says.

The agency had been under pressure to meet state security standards after a laptop theft in late October exposed tens of thousands of residents to identity theft.

The agency laptop had residents' Social Security numbers on it when it was stolen from an employee who had it on a training trip in Atlanta. The laptop had not been loaded with software that makes data incomprehensible to unauthorized users.

The state's chief information officer said the agency had violated state security standards.

Nearly all laptops assigned to employees are now loaded with the encryption software, Karen Tomczak, the chief information officer for DHHS, said in a letter this week to Ann Garrett, the state's chief information security officer.

It cost $101,085 to encrypt 3,829 machines. About 273 laptops that are not being used have not been encrypted. They do not contain any personal or confidential information, Tomczak wrote.

Two laptops assigned to visually-impaired employees have not been encrypted because they need a different kind of software, Tomczak wrote. Those computers contain no personal information.

Another laptop was stolen from a DHHS employee's home last weekend. The laptop was encrypted and contained no personal information, a spokesman said.