[Dataloss] follow-up: Missing SFO Clear Laptop Was Stolen, Not Misplaced

[security curmudgeon]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Paul Ferguson <fergdawg at netzero.net>


Via CBS5.com.

[snip]

A laptop containing the personal information of 33,000 applicants to a 
program that allows air travelers to bypass airport security lines was 
likely stolen then returned, not just misplaced for more than a week, 
investigators said Monday.

The Transportation Security Administration announced a week ago that it 
had suspended new enrollments to the program, known as Clear, after the 
unencrypted computer went missing from a locked office at San Francisco 
International Airport.

The TSA also told officials at SFO and other airports that used Clear to 
cease use of any unencrypted computers and secure devices until encryption 
can be installed.

The day after TSA's announcement, the laptop reappeared in a locked 
cabinet in the same office where it was last seen.

Verified Identity Pass Inc., which runs the Clear program, said at the 
time the company did not know whether its computer was actually stolen or 
had just been overlooked.

Investigators are now treating the disappearance as a theft and are 
interviewing Verified Identity Pass employees to figure out who took the 
laptop and why, said San Mateo County Sheriff's Sgt. Wes Matsuura.

It was "highly doubtful" that a random member of the public swiped the 
computer and then returned it to the locked office, which is not in a 
visible location at the airport, Matsuura said.

[snip]

More:
http://cbs5.com/local/sfo.laptop.stolen.2.792738.html