Fresh news from America about missing laptops with confidential information has reached us. Around 38,000 clients of Kaiser Permanente Colorado, and 11,000 drivers from Pennsylvania are thought to be at risk as a result. Police have also taken a suspect into custody with regard to a data leak from the Florida transport ministry. Meanwhile, InfoWatch experts consider mobile data leaks a real bane of modern times.
Kaiser Permanente Colorado is a medical insurance company with a client mailing list of 38,000. All these private citizens have come under threat of identity theft as the result of the loss of a laptop from the car of one of the company’s employees. According to Rocky Mountain News, a victims’ hotline has been set up. Spokesmen for Kaiser have said that, specifically, the stolen computer contained data about clients from two offices: Skyline and Southwest.
Kaiser’s lost client data includes Christian names, surnames, dates of birth, and medical and other information. But the agency denies that any Social Security information was held on the laptop. One of Kaiser Permanente Colorado’s VPs – Kerry W. Kohnen – said he hoped the laptop had been taken purely for its re-sale value and not for the data it contained.
In Pennsylvania, a laptop with 11,000 State drivers’ records was stolen by a persons unknown from the Wilkes-Barre drivers’ accreditation center. In addition to the computers, the thieves left with equipment and working materials with which it is possible to produce up to 750 false driving licenses. Such a task is made all the easier by the fact that the computer held complete records – including names, addresses, license numbers and, to top it all, Social Security numbers.
The theft occurred towards the end of November and affects all drivers processed by center between August 30th and November 28th. The Pennsylvania ministry of transport reacted quickly to the news by informing the general public, and is now engaged in informing the victims individually. At the same time, measures are being taken to recover the lost equipment. A free hotline is already in place on which one can get information on how best to handle the current situation and what one should do. In addition, the Department is providing the victims with free financial transaction monitoring.
Meanwhile, in Miami, the police have made an arrest in connection with a scandal surrounding yet another laptop. InfoWatch’s analytical center wrote on this subject a week ago. The case resulted in 133,000 inhabitants of Florida coming under threat of identity theft. But the laptop itself has not been found. And there is no guarantee that even if the culprit is apprehended, the data will not have been passed on. Incidentally, the suspect’s name has been withheld in the interests of the on-going investigation.
Denis Zenkin, InfoWatch’s Marketing Director said, “We should not be surprised that those who allow an information leak to occur then try to manage the perception of its significance in the eyes of the general public. But, in reality, there is a genuine risk of identity theft. We just need to look at the statistics. In the US itself, no small percentage of leaked data results in identity theft and significant loss for the private individuals who fall victim to it.”
Sources: Rocky Mountain News, News.com, ConsumerAffairs.com, InfoWatch
