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FairPoint: Device Containing Employee Info Missing

The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A portable data storage device containing the personal information of more than 4,000 employees of FairPoint Communications Inc. has been reported missing, the telecommunications company said Tuesday.

The device was discovered missing from an office April 8, and contained information on all active employees and some former workers, FairPoint said. An investigation is under way and there is no indication any data has been "improperly accessed," the company said.

"There has been absolutely nothing indicating inappropriate use of this information," FairPoint spokeswoman Rose Cummings said.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based company didn't say where the device was discovered missing.

FairPoint operates phone companies in 18 states. Its most extensive operations are in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, where it bought Verizon's wired telephone lines and Internet network last year.

The company has about 4,200 employees, with more than 3,100 in northern New England.

The information on the missing device might have included names, home addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, birth dates and compensation and employment information, the company said. No customer or financial account information was not on the device, FairPoint said.

The loss of the device comes at a time when FairPoint is struggling with billing, customer service and e-mail problems that have plagued customers since the company switched to its own computer systems in late January, 10 months after buying Verizon's landline northern New England network.

Cummings said the loss of the employee information is not related to the company's computer systems.

"In this particular instance, proper procedures were not followed. It was human error," she said, adding that the employee responsible for the case was let go from the company.

FairPoint has completed an internal probe and has retained an outside investigator to conduct a separate investigation, Cummings said.

The company has notified all affected employees and former employees and alerted regulators and other officials in states where those employees live. FairPoint is offering a free one-year membership in a national identity theft protection service to those affected by the loss.