Multnomah County reports breach of protected health information

The Multnomah County Health Department announced Friday that over 1,000 people may have had their private information accessed in a data breach.

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- The Multnomah County Health Department announced Friday that over 1,000 people may have had their private information accessed in a data breach.

While the county assures Social Security and drivers' license numbers of their Health Center clients were not breached, information on their Medicaid ID, medical record number, race, ethnicity, gender and date of birth were likely compromised.

In a statement, the county said the breach dates to early March when a Health Department employee failed to return their county-issued laptop after being dismissed. But it was not until April when an alert was raised about 'suspicious activity' on the computer, leading to an investigation.

The county added they also filed a report with Portland police after the dismissed employee ignored repeated demands to return the laptop. However, after finding out the computer was being accessed with the employee's former login, the department sent a remote code to delete the files the next time it connected to the internet.

At this time, the county says there is no evidence that clients' information is being misused. Nonetheless, they are encouraging anyone who receives a letter notifying them of this breach to enroll in identity theft protection and/or sign up to receive free fraud alerts from three major credit bureaus.

No other Multnomah County information systems were impacted.