<a href="http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2006/06/ftc_laptop_theft_exposes_consu.html">http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2006/06/ftc_laptop_theft_exposes_consu.html</a><br><br><h3>FTC Laptop Theft Exposes Consumer Data
</h3>
<p>The <strong>Federal Trade Commission</strong> -- an agency whose
mission includes consumer protection and occasionally involves suing
companies for negligence in protecting customer information -- today
disclosed a recent theft of two laptop computers containing personal
and financial data on consumers. </p>
<p>In a statement, the FTC said two employee laptops were stolen from a
locked vehicle. The PCs contained data on about 110 people that was
"gathered in law enforcement investigations and included, variously,
names, addresses, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and in some
instances, financial account numbers."</p>
<p>The commission said it has "no reason to believe the information on
the laptops, as opposed to the laptops themselves, was the target of
the theft. In addition, the stolen laptops were password protected and
the personal information was a very small part of several thousand
files contained in one of the laptops." The agency also said it would
offer affected individuals one year of free credit monitoring. </p>
<p>The FTC's loss is just the latest in <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/21/AR2006062101854.html">a string of laptop thefts</a>
-- including several here in the Washington area -- that exposed
sensitive information on millions of consumers. Last month, the U.S. <strong>Department of Veterans Affairs</strong>
reported that a stolen laptop and computer hard drive taken from an
employee's house in Montgomery County contained personal information on
25.5 million veterans and military personnel. Social Security numbers
and the birthdates of 13,000 District workers and retirees were among
the data contained on a laptop stolen last week from the Southeast
Washington house of an employee of <strong>ING U.S. Financial Services</strong>....</p><br>