Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey is notifying more than 300,000 of its members that their names, social security numbers and other personal information were contained on a laptop computer stolen in Newark earlier this month.
The health insurance giant, which serves more than 3.3 million people across the state, said there was no reason to believe any of the information was compromised because it was protected by password and other security features -- although the data was not encrypted.
Those whose names were on the laptop are being offered a free year of credit-monitoring services.
The laptop, which was stolen on Jan. 5, was being taken home by an employee who regularly works with member data. Thomas Rubino, director of public affairs for Horizon, said the loss of data resulted from a violation of company security practices, and was being investigated.
Rubino added that the computer was programmed to automatically destroy the data by Jan. 23.