The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is notifying 110 people that
two laptop computers containing their personal data were stolen
from a locked vehicle.
The information includes individuals' names, addresses, Social
Security numbers, birth dates and "in some cases, financial account
numbers," the regulatory agency said Thursday. The laptops are
password protected, and the FTC said it had no reason to think the
data on the laptops, rather than the laptops themselves, was the
target of theft.
Those affected include defendants in current and past FTC cases.
The agency was sending letters to them with information about how
to limit their risk of identity theft and offering a year of free
credit monitoring.
It's only the latest case in which sensitive information has
been lost on government computers. In May, the U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs said personal data for 26.5 million veterans may
have been compromised after a break-in at an analyst's home.
The analyst had violated a department security policy by taking
home the sensitive data. The incident prompted calls for all
government agencies to adhere more closely to the Federal
Information Security Management Act.
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