FTC Loses Laptop, Private Data

FTC set lose personal data on laptop. Here we go again with yet another laptop loss - but this one was by the guardians and enforcers of privacy for US citizens. They cavalierly leave a couple of laptops in a "locked vehicle" as if car door locks were ever considered secure. The data lost was information on 110 people under investigation for FTC violations, and included financial account information as well as social security numbers, dates of birth, names and addresses.

So not only are those people being warned by the FTC that their personal and financial information was lost, but (if they didn't know already) that they are being investigated for FTC violations. "Oh, by the way, you'll be fined and jailed later - sorry we lost your information."

The FTC is now taking what has become the standard line in laptop thefts with the absurdly non-reassuring,

"The FTC has no reason to believe the information on the laptops, as opposed to the laptops themselves, was the target of the theft," its statement said. "In addition, the stolen laptops were password protected and the personal information was a very small part of several thousand files contained in one of the laptops."

Gee guys, that's swell. Thanks for all you do.

In a cute kind of CYA (Cover Your Assets) move, the White House, through the OMB, then issues a call for better security, encryption and two factor identity access of laptops. Does anyone think there is a trend developing here? How about here? Maybe here?

Here's a lucid commentary by columnist Mike Hoban of the Northwest Indiana Times suggesting some responsibility rest on the shoulders of executives of companies that lose data, especially on laptops stolen from cars.

Technorati security, encryption, privacy, data protection

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