News
Fidelity laptop with HP employee data stolen
Posted on March 23, 2006

The laptop was being used by several Fidelity Investments employees in an off-site location. It contains information on 196,000 current and former HP employees. The data includes names, addresses, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and other employment-related information.

Fidelity has reported the theft to law enforcement agencies and the matter is under investigation, said Anne Crowley, a spokeswoman for Fidelity.

"They told us that there have been several laptop thefts," Crowley said. "Their experience has been that these appear to be largely property-focused, rather than people seeking data or identity information."

The information requires a special application, which was running on a temporary license from a third-party software vendor. However, the license expired a day or so after the laptop was stolen, Crowley said. "The data would be difficult to interpret and generally difficult to read or use."

HP and Fidelity started notifying affected individuals this week, both companies said.

"This is to let you know that Fidelity Investments, record-keeper for the HP retirement plans, recently had a laptop computer stolen that contained personal information about you, including your name, address, social security number and compensation," employees learned via email.

Fidelity has taken steps to implement extra security processes requiring additional authentication for access to those HP accounts as well as other measures to prevent unauthorized use. Fidelity has also employed additional security controls above and beyond its already significant monitoring activity to identify if there is any unusual activity in these accounts.

"At this time, we are unaware of any misuse of the information contained in the software on the laptop," Crowley said. "We have reviewed activity in the HP accounts and have found no indication of unusual or suspicious activity."

Fidelity has also set up a Web site that "includes some immediate steps that you can take to protect yourself, as well as information about how to enroll for a 12-month period of credit monitoring at no cost to you and a Fidelity call center number in case you have additional questions."

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SOURCE: News.com; The Register