Sensitive data goes missing from Illinois childcare agency
Maryville Academy, a Des Plaines, Ill.-based social service agency that serves abused children, revealed late last week that three computer files containing personal and medical information of thousands of children have gone missing.How many victims? About 3,900.
What type of personal information? Birth dates, relatives' names, Social Security numbers, medical treatment data and other unspecified information.
What happened? The files were in a locked storage room in Maryville's Des Plaines facility when they went missing. It is not known whether the files were stolen or misplaced.
Details: The files contained information about children who lived at agency facilities since 1992. They did not include information about children cared for at the agency's crisis nursery, children's health care center, psychiatric hospital or girl's shelter.
Quote: "We are reaching out to the members of our Maryville family who may be affected by these missing files to offer our assistance," Sister Catherine Ryan, Maryville's executive director, said in the statement.
What was the response? The agency is investigating.
Source: Chicago Breaking News, chicagobreakingnews.com, “Computer files lost at Maryville,” March 25, 2011.
