OH employees rush for free ID theft protection

On the heels of news that a data loss may have left Ohio state workers vulnerable to identity theft, employees rushed to sign up for the free identity fraud protection offered by the state, reports the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.

Over 11,000 state employees signed up for the offer after learning their personal information was on a backup computer tape stolen from an intern's car last week. The onslaught crashed the website of the Texas-based company offering the service for several hours Monday morning, said Ron Sylvester, spokesman for the state Department of Administrative Services.

Taxpayers will foot the bill for the protection, which Debix bills at $9.75 per person. Thus far, no one has reported any suspicious activity, although there was information related to electronic fund-transfer banking information for 28,362 state employees who travel regularly.

As an extra measure of security, the State Controlling Board approved a pair of $50,000 contracts for computer security expert Matt Curtin to check the state's findings of what data was on the stolen tape.