Thousands of people who’ve done work for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources are learning their personal files may have been compromised. The DNR says one of its contractors lost a vital computer jump drive in late November, but didn’t report it missing until last week, hoping it would turn up. It hasn’t.
The drive contains the names and Social Security numbers for 7,000 people, all who’ve done work on wastewater and drinking water systems. They’re being notified of the problem and told to put a fraud alert on their credit reports.
The worker who lost the drive thinks it may’ve fallen off his desk and into a garbage can at a DNR office in Des Moines. He still works for the agency, pending an investigation.