Lorenzo's Security Blog

An electronic storage device stolen from an employee’s car in Sacramento last month contained health information from 15,500 patients, including about 800 in the Fresno area, Kaiser Permanente Northern California said Tuesday.

There is no evidence the information has been used inappropriately, a Kaiser official said. The risk for fraud and identity theft is considered low.

No Social Security numbers or financial information of patients were on the device, Kaiser said. Information included patient names, medical-record numbers and, for some individuals, ages, dates of birth, gender, phone numbers and other information related to their care and treatment.

Without Social Security numbers or credit card numbers, there should be very low risk of financial identity theft, said Linda Foley, founder of the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego.

The device, known as an external drive, was stolen Dec. 1 from the employee’s car at her home in Sacramento, Kaiser said. The employee notified Kaiser of the theft on Dec. 8.