Firm makes changes after data is lost.
Imhoff & Associates, PC, (I&A) a multi-state criminal defense firm, reported some of their clients’ data was stolen. According to the “Individual Notification” letter from I&A found on the State of California’s Office of the Attorney General website, a hard disk drive with clients whose Personally Identifiable Information (PII) was stolen on June 27th.
Encryption is Key to Data Security
The hard drive, which was stolen from a locked trunk of an employee’s car, contained backup files from the firm’s servers. The firm states the hard drive may have contained: names, birth dates, social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, and other contact information, such as home address, e-mail and phone number on a yet-to-be-determined number of clients.
According to the letter signed by Vincent M. Imhoff, Managing Director Imhoff & Associates, PC: “Imhoff has no reason to believe that the hard drive was stolen for the information it contained or that your information has been accessed or used in any way.”
The firm’s response was appropriate; they immediately contacted the Santa Monica, Ca. Police Department which began an investigation. In addition, the firm hired Computer Forensics Investigators to determine what was contained on the stolen hard disk drive.
As required by law, the firm has sent out data breach notification letters to clients whose information may have been on the hard disk drive. In the letter, the firm indicated it had purchased identity protection services for those affected, which includes a $1 million identity theft insurance policy.
While the hard drive has yet to be recovered, the firm is in the process of making some internal changes to further protect client information. In the letter, Mr. Imhoff said “To help prevent something like this from happening in the future, we are strengthening our internal processes with respect to encryption and enhancing our policies, procedures and staff education regarding the safeguarding of company property and information.”
Evidence Solutions, Inc.’s Computer Forensics Experts, cannot stress enough the need for companies, organizations and firms of all sizes to encrypt their data. Encryption keeps data from being readily accessed by someone who obtains storage media that contains PII.
Because encryption can be nearly impossible to break, encrypted data that has been lost, is not always subject to the very expensive process of notification.
Imhoff & Associates, P.C. whose National Headquarters is in Los Angeles, CA is associated with attorneys in the following states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
