Theft of Home Depot Computer Puts 10,000 At Risk for Identity Theft
On Wednesday Home Depot confirmed that a laptop containing the personal information of around 10,000 employees was stolen recently. The laptop contained the names, addresses, and social security numbers of the employees. The data was password protected but not encrypted. Home Depot says the theft occurred when a human resources representive in Massachusetts took the computer home to get some work done and left it in his vehicle, which was parked in front of his home. The vehicle was broken into and the laptop taken. Home Depot has notified the affected workers and offered to pay for a years worth of credit monitoring. The company is working with Law Enforcement to investigate the theft.
Now maybe it’s me, but leaving a laptop in your car, especially one with sensitive data on it, has to be the height of stupidity. Leaving any kind of expensive electronic device in a car in plain view is like putting a sign up that says “Cool stuff inside-help yourself!”. Putting it in a bag doesn’t help as laptop bags are easy to identify. Not only was putting the laptop in the bag foolish from a security standpoint, but the temps in a car can get extremely high, even in these cooler fall months, and that can damage the sensitive electronics inside a laptop. Laptops should never be kept in unattended vehicles!
Hopefully whoever stole the laptop doesn’t know or care about the sensitive data it holds. Otherwise, those employees could face some very serious issues. Anyone who gets ahold of your social security number can easily get credit, open bank accounts, even get a drivers license, all in your name. They then go on a spending spree and disappear, leaving you to sort through the mess and prove who you are-and who you aren’t. Let’s hope Home Depot will implement a new security policy concerning the taking home of laptops with sensitive data on them!
home depot, laptop security, identity theft, computers
October 25th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
[...] This new style is similar to other states that already have the two photo look, such as Ohio. I recall being told in college by an Ohio classmate that they were done that way to help prevent underage kids from having authentic looking fake IDs to buy alcohol. I guess that times have changed when they are less concerned about kids getting booze and more concerned about identity theft. [...]
November 15th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
[...] for New York and Connecticut. “The first step in that process is to bring awareness of the hazards of the Web to youngsters, their parents and teachers. And we need to quickly follow that with ways of [...]