PennDOT also took immediate action to increase security of customer data at its facilities across Pennsylvania to reduce the risk of such a breach occurring again.
Thieves also took equipment and supplies that could be used to make fraudulent drivers license and photo identification cards. Pennsylvania State Police are investigating the crime.
"First and foremost, we want to let people know that we understand the serious nature of this matter and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and concern it will cause; and that we have taken swift action to address this breach and assist our customers," PennDOT Deputy Secretary Betty Serian said. "A key part of PennDOT's mission is safeguarding the information customers entrust to us and we took immediate action to secure the integrity of that data at all PennDOT facilities.
"We will try to do everything we can to assist affected customers in ensuring the safety of their personal information. We will place a fraud alert with the credit bureaus and will offer free credit checks for up to one year. We will also investigate other credit monitoring services that can be legally provided," Serian added.
The burglary occurred at about 11:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 28, when thieves breached security at the driver license center and stole two computers, which contained the personal information of 11,384 customers who had their photos taken for a driver's license or photo identification card at the Wilkes-Barre Driver License Center between Aug. 30, 2006, and Nov. 28, 2006. Only those customers who had their photos taken at the Wilkes-Barre Driver License Center in that specific time period are affected by the theft.
The information stored on those computers included names, addresses, dates of birth, driver's license numbers and the last four digits of Social Security numbers. In the case of 5,348 of those customers, the personal information stored included complete Social Security numbers.
PennDOT is cooperating with the Pennsylvania State Police in its investigation. PSP has notified state and federal law enforcement and homeland security personnel.
