BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Johns Hopkins University revealed Wednesday morning that personal information on about 135,000 employees and patients has gone missing.

The university became aware on Jan. 18 that eight backup computer tapes containing sensitive personal information on 52,000 employees had not been returned by a contractor who routinely makes microfiche backups of such data, Hopkins officials said in a statement.

During its investigation, Hopkins said it learned on Jan. 26 that a ninth tape, containing less-sensitive personal information on approximately 83,000 patients at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, also had not been returned as expected from the contractor.

After an the investigation by both the contractor, Anacomp Co. Inc., headquartered in San Diego, and Hopkins, it was determined that the tapes never reached the facility and concluded that the tapes likely had been mistakenly left at another stop by a courier. The best guess is that the boxes were collected as trash and later incinerated, Hopkins said.

“The driver involved volunteered and passed a polygraph test,” JHU spokesman Dennis O’Shea said.

There is no evidence, as of yet, indicating that the tapes were stolen or that the data on them has been misused, Shea said.

The information on the university payroll tapes included Social Security numbers and, in some cases, bank account information for present and former employees, including retirees and students who have held campus jobs. Employees whose information is on the tapes come from all university units except the Applied Physics Laboratory.

“If this got into hands of a computer criminal,” Privacy Rights Clearinghouse Director Beth Givens said. “It certainly would be the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”

The hospital tape included personal information on all patients first seen last year between July 4 and Dec. 18, or who had changes in their demographic information in that time. The patient information included such data as names and dates of birth. It did not include addresses, Social Security numbers, financial information of any kind, or any medical information.

Letters are being sent to all affected, current and former, Johns Hopkins University employees and patients.

Anyone receiving a letter may visit the JHU Web site established to provide additional information, or call 800-981-7524.

rcassie@baltimoreexaminer.com