Police are looking into a report of a terminated city employee possibly accessing other people’s private personal information from a government computer she took home.
The incident allegedly took place at the city health department last Friday.
It involved a woman whom the health department had hired as an epidemiologist. She was terminated on July 19 for “not satisfactorily complet[ing]” her 90-day probationary period, according to a human resources report.
The cops received a report that the woman returned to her former office last Friday, accessed a computer and may have downloaded “other people’s personal information” without authorization, according to Assistant Police Chief Archie Generoso.
“She hasn’t been arrested. We’re conducting an investigation,” Generoso said. He did not specify what kind of personal information was allegedly taken.
Another person was present in the office when the alleged breach occurred. A city official later contacted the police, not at the time the incident occurred.
City human resources chief Stephen Librandi said it’s not clear at this point if the woman did take any improper information.
He said an intern was present in the office when the ex-employee showed up and accessed the computer. The ex-employee did access the computer while there, then took it home with her, Librandi said. And the computer had access to confidential information.
“She had been instructed” to have someone in human resources accompany her when she wanted to gather her belongings, Librandi said.
“She still has the laptop in her possession. I spoke to her today,” Librandi said Thursday afternoon. “She’s returning to me tomorrow. I do not know if any information was taken off it or not.”
Will NHV be notifying people of the possible data breach (as is common with most organizations that have been hacked)?