RentPath, Inc., formerly known as Primedia, recently began notifying employees, former employees and applicants that their personal data may have been accessed by an independent contractor.
According to the company, on June 20, 2012, an independent contractor working in its network operations group was seen on security tapes stealing more than 50 pieces of computer hardware.
Among the stolen hardware was a storage device that held 4.8 terabytes of data, including the personally identifiable information of employees, former employees and applicants. RentPath hired FishNet Security to determine what data may have been included on the storage device.
According to FishNet, approximately 56,000 Social Security numbers were included. Those numbers were successfully matched to approximately 30,000 employees, former employees and applicants, who are currently being notified. The company is working to identify the contact information for the remaining 26,000 Social Security numbers.
Everyone who may have been affected by the breach is being offered credit monitoring and optional identity restoration services through Kroll Advisory Solutions.
Senior Analyst Nikolai Fedotov, InfoWatch comments: «Personally identifiable information (PII) of Social Security Number (SSN) costs from $ 12 to $ 18 per item in the American black market. Only attributes of bank cards with PIN-codes cost more.
So that, the thief could get half a million easily. If only data is so expensive, why did he steal such heavy equipment?»
