Another laptop has been lost by the University of Minnesota. This time the private details of 200 students have been compromised. Experts at InfoWatch stress that there is a very simple way of minimizing the risks arising from such incidents: encrypt all confidential data.
A University of Minnesota spokesman confirmed that a second laptop computer that contained private student data was stolen from the university this summer.
The stolen computer contained the names, ID numbers and grades of around 200 students. Fortunately, the information did not include Social Security numbers, which could have enabled identity theft. The computer was stolen from a faculty member in June during a trip to Spain.
The University of Minnesota has already reported the theft of two laptops this year. The laptops were stolen in August with data on more than 13,000 students who enrolled in the school as freshmen between fall 1991 and 2006. Some of those records contained Social Security numbers.
It appears that some students have been doubly unlucky, with their private data being compromised twice. The chances of those students falling victim to identity theft have now been raised as a result of this second loss.
“Incidents like this happen all the time. An organization loses a laptop containing private details and those affected have to try and secure their financial accounts. There is only one solution – private data must be encrypted. That prevents a number of problems from ever arising in the first place,” says Denis Zenkin, marketing director at InfoWatch.
Source: Twincities
