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Ernst & Young Loses Hotels.com Laptop
SecurityProNews
Staff Writer
2006-06-02
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A theft of an Ernst & Young laptop has exposed the personal information of about 243,000 Hotels.com customers. An E&Y Texas employee, who was in charge of auditing Hotels.com accounts, left the laptop in a car.
The laptop was stolen in late February, according to CNet, but Hotels.com wasn't notified about it until May 3rd, a Hotels.com representative said. Customers affected by the theft were notified last week. The information exposed was related to transactions made in 2004, but there were a smaller number transactions from 2002 and 2003 as well.
Hotels.com, owned by Expedia, said it didn't believe identity theft was the motive of the theft and that it appeared to be "just a car theft." The company informed credit card companies of specific individuals affected.
The laptop had password protection but did not have any encryption software. A representative said as of May 31st, 30,000 E&Y employees have encryption protection.
The Register reports that E&Y lost a different laptop in February that affected tens of thousands of Sun, IBM, Cisco, BP and Nokia employees. It is unclear if it was the same laptop.
About the Author:
SecurityProNews is a daily online and email publication focusing on internet security issues.
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