Nashville-based managed care company HealthSpring Inc. said Wednesday a laptop computer containing personal information of about 450 state residents was stolen in March.
The laptop, believed to contain names, dates of birth and social security numbers of about 9,000 individuals, was stolen from a HealthSpring employee's locked car on March 30 in Houston, the company said.
HealthSpring said the theft was reported to police on April 1 and it does not believe any of the information on the laptop has been misused.
The company sent a letter dated May 7 to the individuals affected by the theft, encouraging them to use a credit monitoring and identity theft restoration service. HealthSpring will pay for the service.
"We take it very seriously and feel badly about it," said Jerry Coil, executive vice president and chief operating officer. The stolen laptop was password protected but not encrypted, Coil said. He added that he thinks it's "highly unlikely" any data was compromised.
Coil said the company has been in the process of encrypting all of its laptops and desktop computers.