Credit: Louisville Metro Police

Louisville Metro recently discovered an incident that may affect the security of personal information stored within our environment.  This notice is meant to provide information about the incident, steps taken since discovering the incident, and information on what potentially affected individuals  can do to better protect against the possibility of identity theft and fraud.

A computer used by two Assistant County Attorneys was recently stolen from the Louisville Hall of Justice.  The computer, about the size of a book, was located in a publicly accessible conference room and not secured to the table it was stationed on.  After the theft was reported, Louisville Metro launched an internal investigation and retained third-party forensic experts to determine what information may have been stored on the hard drive at the time of the theft.  Though the computer was later recovered, the hard drive had been removed.  The investigation determined that the emails of the two attorneys may have been saved locally to the hard drive.

Though Louisville Metro has no evidence that the data contained on the hard drive was subject to unauthorized access, on April 19, 2017 Louisville Metro discovered that certain personal information was contained within the email account of one of the attorneys.  While we are unaware of any actual of attempted misuse of this information, in an abundance of caution, we are providing notice of this incident.  The information stored on the computer and potentially subject to unauthorized access included some individuals’ names, Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, and driver’s license numbers.

Notices have been mailed to the less than 175 individuals affected by this event.

To Learn More
Louisville Metro has established a confidential call center regarding this incident.  The call center is staffed with professionals who can answer questions about this incident and provide information on how to protect against misuse of personal information.  The call center is available Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. E.T. at 1-800-939-4170.

Louisville Metro encourages potentially affected individuals review their account statements and credit reports for suspicious activity.

In addition, under U.S. law affected individuals are entitled to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus.  To order your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call, toll-free, 1-877-322-8228.  You may also contact the three major credit bureaus directly to request a free copy of your credit report.

Individuals may also contact the three major credit reporting agencies below to put a “fraud alert” or “credit freeze” on their credit file.

Equifax
P.O. Box 105069
Atlanta, GA 30348
800-525-6285
www.equifax.com

Experian
P.O. Box 2002
Allen, TX 75013
888-397-3742
www.experian.com 

TransUnion
P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19022-2000
800-680-7289
www.transunion.com

Further, affected individuals can educate themselves regarding identity theft, fraud alerts, and the steps you can take to protect yourself, by contacting the Federal Trade Commission or your state Attorney General.  The Federal Trade Commission can be reached at: 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580, www.identitytheft.gov, 1-877-ID-THEFT (1-877-438-4338); TTY: 1-866-653-4261.  The Federal Trade Commission also encourages those who discover that their information has been misused to file a complaint with them.  Instances of known or suspected identity theft should also be reported to law enforcement.  Kentucky Residents: The Kentucky Attorney General’s office can be contacted at 888-432-9257 or 502-696-5389.