The Arizona State Retirement System is responding to a potential data breach affecting almost 44,000 members. Officials believe some sensitive member information was lost within the mail system.
The breach occurred when the state retirement system lost track of two unencrypted CDs storing member names and social security numbers. The information was being sent by mail to a dental insurance provider as part of a monthly data transfer, however the package did not have a tracking number.
David Cannella with the Arizona State Retirement System said officials don’t believe the information was stolen, but they acknowledge the system could have been more secure.
"While it was the process that we had been using, it was not a good process," Cannella said. "There were some failures in our system to recognize that and since that time we’ve addressed those issues."
Impacted members were notified of the breach earlier this month. The system is offering identity protection services to those affected.