Incident: Laptop theft compromises personal information of 21,000 Medi-Cal recipients

From KESQ in Palm Desert, California:

KESQ NewsChannel 3 Palm Springs, CA: State warning 21-thousand Medi-Cal recipients about identity theft:

"SACRAMENTO State health officials have begun notifying more than 21-thousand Medi-Cal recipients that they could become targets of identity theft because of the theft of a laptop computer.

The computer contained the names, Social Security numbers and health information about 21-thousand-600 Medi-Cal recipients. It was stolen from the trunk of a car belonging to an employee of a company that provides the state with data services.

State Sen. Jackie Speier (Spear) of Hillsborough says she will introduce legislation to require state agencies and their contractors to encrypt personal information on laptop computers so it can't be read by unauthorized persons."