The American Institute of CPAs sent a letter to its 330,000 members notifying them that a computer hard disk containing their personal information, including Social Security numbers, has been lost in transport.
Sent on May 8 and posted to AICPA.org, the letter explains that "the hard drive was damaged and had been sent out for repair by an employee in direct violation of the Institute's internal control policies and procedures."
The hard drive contained names, addresses and Social Security numbers of AICPA members -- but not credit card information, the institute emphasized.
The AICPA said there is no evidence that the information has been inappropriately accessed. An extensive search in collaboration with FedEx Express did not find the drive, leading the institute to believe this "a case of a package being lost."
In partnership with ConsumerInfo.com, a full year of credit monitoring, free of charge, is available to AICPA members beginning May 23, 2006. Details on how to activate the free service is available at http://www.aicpa.org/privacyinfo
[an error occurred while processing this directive]