Fergie's Tech Blog

USDA Laptop with Personal Data Compromised

An AP newswire article, via The Boston Globe, reports that:

A laptop computer bag was stolen from an Agriculture Department worker's car in Kansas, and the names, addresses and Social Security numbers of about 350 employees may have been accessed, the department said.

The case, containing a computer and a printout of the data, has since been returned to a meat plant, department spokesman Ed Loyd said Tuesday. But it was obvious someone had rummaged through the case, Loyd said.

The theft may have affected about 350 full-time and part-time employees and state contractors involved in federal Agricultural Marketing Service meat grading programs in 30 states and the District of Columbia, the department said.

posted by Fergie @ 7/18/2006 09:25:00 AM