Five laptops containing data about tens of thousands of retirement-plan participants at multiple companies were reported stolen by benefits consulting giant Towers Perrin last month, the latest in a string of thefts across industries raising concerns about privacy and identity theft.
Towers Perrin reported the laptops missing on Dec. 7, and New York City police made an arrest on Dec. 28, but the computers haven't been recovered, people familiar with the matter said. A criminal complaint filed in New York suggests the laptops were stolen from a locked room in the building housing Towers Perrin's Manhattan office on Nov. 27.