Bisys Group Inc. said personal details about 61,000 hedge fund investors were lost when an employee's truck carrying the files was stolen.
Backup tapes with the information, including the social security numbers of 35,000 individuals, were being moved June 8 between the Roseland, New Jersey-based Bisys RK business unit to another facility, said Amy Conti, a Bisys spokeswoman.
The loss by Bisys, a provider of administrative services to financial companies, is among more than 100 similar thefts reported since January by the U.S. San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. The organization's Web site shows two or more losses of sensitive records every week, including confidential information on 28.6 million U.S. veterans in a laptop stolen from the home of a Department of Veteran Affairs analyst.
The Bisys tapes can only be read with "sophisticated hardware and proprietary software," Conti said in an interview from Roseland, New Jersey. "We began calling our clients last week to notify them."
Conti, who declined to identify the hedge funds, said police and private investigators believe the tapes were thrown away.
"The police are on the opinion that this was a joy ride, and the contents disposed of," she said. "We believe these files weren't compromised, but we have a legal and moral requirement to let investors know."
Shares of New York-based Bisys fell 22 cents to $13.80 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have fallen 1.5 percent this year.
The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse said 88.8 million records have been stolen since February 2005.
"That number doesn't expire," Leslie Flint, legal research associate at the Clearinghouse, said in an interview today. Thieves "can use that information tomorrow or 10 years from now."
Flint said potential identity theft victims should check their credit ratings every four months.
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