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IBM Contractor Lost Employee Information
David Utter
Staff Writer
2007-05-16
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Data tapes vanished in February, taking with them the personally identifiable information about mainly retired employees.
 | | IBM Contractor Lost Employee Information |  |
Big Blue is a little red-faced today on the security front. IBM is taking a beating over the loss of a number of data backup tapes.
The loss happened on February 23rd. An AP report said the tapes fell out of a contractor's vehicle not far from IBM's headquarters in Armonk, NY. Though IBM investigated the scene, the tapes could not be found.
Letters have been going out to people potentially affected by the egregious loss. On those tapes, some of which are not encrypted, are details including "your Social Security number, your dates of employment with IBM, birth date, contact information such as your address, and your IBM work history."
Such a find would be a rich treasure trove for identity thieves, who would have all the pieces they need to commit fraud against those victims. Older retirees could be particularly vulnerable to criminals who could end up with this information.
So far, IBM claims no abuse of the information on the tapes has been reported.
"We have concluded that the tape loss was inadvertent and not associated with theft or any other unlawful activity," IBM said in the letter to employees.
"We have no indication that the personal information on the missing tapes ... has been accessed or has been used for any improper purpose."
IBM has not discussed details of how the tapes were lost. The outside vendor who lost them has also not been identified.
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Tags: IBM, Data Loss, Identity Theft
About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
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