Hospital says no danger despite data disappearance

South Shore Hospital says there is virtually no danger that lost computer files containing personal information on some 800,000 people wound up in the wrong hands.

The hospital announced on Wednesday that it had completed its own investigation of the data breach, which occurred when a contractor hired to destroy obsolete back-up files said it had lost the material. The hospital said the files could contain Social Security numbers and other personally identifiable information of patients, employees and others.

The hospital's investigation determined that one of three boxes containing the files had been destroyed by a subcontractor. The other two likely ended up in a commercial landfill and are "unrecoverable."

The hospital says there's "little or no risk" that the files could be accessed or misused.