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A portable flash drive that contained the personal information of close to 12,000 employees of the Katy, Texas Independent School District, was misplaced on August 5 by an IRS agent conducting a random audit.
A total of 11,658 past and present employees who either received a paycheck in 2013 from the school district or contributed to either a 403(b) or 457(b) voluntary plan that year were affected by the issue. The specific information on the flash drive included the names, Social Security numbers, mailing addresses and birth dates of the individuals.
Most of those employees were notified by e-mail by the school’s Superintendent, Alton Frailey, the day after the device was misplaced. Each of the affected individuals was expected to receive formal notification through regular mail soon after.
That note also included information on the credit monitoring service that was contracted to protect against any potential misuse of the information over the next three years as a result of the misplaced flash drive.
The school district is also keeping close tabs on the subsequent investigation and will be seeking reimbursement from the Internal Revenue Service for the cost of retaining the credit monitoring company.
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