77,000 Alaskans' information missing

state settles with firm

January 28, 2010

Attorney General Dan Sullivan (Daniel Hernandez/KTUU-DT)

by Ted Land
Thursday, January 28, 2010

JUNEAU, Alaska -- Tens of thousands of Alaskans are trying to find out if their personal information is missing.

Attorney General Dan Sullivan announced Thursday there's been a massive security breach reaching the highest levels of state government.

More than 77,000 Alaskans' personal information is missing. No one knows where it went.

Now, people who think they might be affected are scrambling for protection.

Thousands of state workers are making a phone call trying to find out if they're on "the list."

On that list, are Sullivan and Gov. Sean Parnell and more than 77,000 other Alaskans who were participants in the Public Employees Retirement System and the Teachers Retirement System in 2003 and 2004.

"In this case the information that we're concerned of is names, dates of birth and social security numbers," Sullivan said.

In the process of an ongoing lawsuit against the state's former actuary, Mercer, a law firm turned over personal information to the state's financial experts, PricewaterhouseCoopers, a private firm which was evaluating the list as part of the lawsuit.

In early December, PricewaterhouseCoopers realized the names and numbers could not be found.

But it wasn't until last week that the firm told the state there might be a problem.

"Well let's just say when I heard about it and understood when they originally knew about it, that it wasn't, we weren't pleased and the initial phone call from me to senior officials at PricewaterhouseCoopers wasn't very pleasant," Sullivan said.

There's no evidence of any identity theft, but the potential exists.

The state does not know who, if anyone, has the information.

"To be honest we're hoping that the firm that misplaced this finds it," Sullivan said.

In the meantime, the attorney general and PricewaterhouseCoopers have reached a settlement. The firm will pay for identity theft protection and credit monitoring for each of the 77,000 Alaskans who are potentially affected by the failure.

If it turns out someone's money has been stolen, PricewaterhouseCoopers will be responsible for that too.

The state says it is not going to sue PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Sullivan says he wanted swift action to fix the problem as soon as possible and thought that a lawsuit would just tie things up.

Charles Gerdts, general counsel for PricewaterhouseCoopers, released a statement, saying "The firm regrets that the information was misplaced while under our control, and has made a significant commitment in reaching this resolution expeditiously."

The U.S. Attorney's office and the FBI are all working on it.

Again, no one knows if the info has been stolen or if it has simply been misplaced.

Anyone who thinks they might be affected should find out as soon as possible.

The state is sending out letters to Alaskans whose names are on that list.

But that will take a few days.

If you think you could be affected, you should call the Department of Administration during normal business hours.

Their number is 1-800-821-2251.

There's also information on their Web site.

The attorney general recommends some additional precautions: