Connecticut Attorney General's Office

Press Release

Attorney General Investigating Compromise Of Confidential Pfizer Employee Information

June 11, 2007

"My office is aggressively and vigorously investigating the compromise of confidential information of thousands of Pfizer employees, including 305 in Connecticut.

"In a letter on June 6, 2007, immediately after learning of the massive breach, I requested that Pfizer take specific steps to protect its employees. I have asked Pfizer to help employees whose information was compromised to freeze their credit and to pay any fees associated with the freeze. I am asking Pfizer to provide additional information, including when the breach occurred, exactly what information was compromised, what steps it took after learning of the breach and its policies for handling personal information and security compromises.

"Compromise of consumer and customer financial information is unacceptably and appallingly common. Pfizer and other companies have a legal and moral responsibility to protect private information. Corporations must make massive improvements in handling and securing sensitive employee and customer data, such as social security numbers and other vital information. Lax information security is an identity thief's dream and a consumer's nightmare. Loss of sensitive personal data can create long-lasting and far-ranging problems -- ruined credit, difficulty in obtaining loans, harassing calls seeking payment of debts not owed -- that take years to resolve.

"My office will seek all relevant information from Pfizer about this security breach and fight to assure that its employees have as much protection as possible from the scourge of identity theft."

Blumenthal's June 6 letter to Pfizer - (PDF-27KB)