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Stolen Laptop Contained Personal Information
Mon, 09 Jun 2008
A laptop belonging to Stanford University has been stolen jeopardising the personal information of up to 72,000 current and former employees. The laptop had bank the home addresses, salaries and Social Security numbers of employees hired before 28th September 2007. The university refused to comment on the theft, and did not disclose any information about how the laptop was stolen.

More details may emerge as the investigation progresses, though the employees concerned will be hoping that the thieves simply wipe the hard drive and sell it on. One piece of consolation for the employees is that the laptop contained no information relating to bank accounts or credit cards .

It isn’t the first time a university have lost sensitive information, with the American Identity Theft Resource Centre confirming that over 70 universities and colleges lost confidential data in 2007. When a laptop belonging to the University of California, Berkeley, was stolen in 2005, the laptop was later found on eBay with the personal information untouched.