Another stolen data tape--this time it's Bristol-Myers

It's almost an everyday occurrence: data lost through security lapses of one type or another. The latest company with lax controls was drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb. Company officials last week confirmed that a non-encrypted backup tape containing the personal data of current and former employees and their dependents was stolen on June 4 from a delivery truck.

The stolen computer tape included the names, addresses, birthdays, Social Security numbers, marital status, bank account numbers, salaries, and hiring and termination/retirement dates of the affected employees. Not much else that a identify thief could ask for.

Company spokeswoman Laura Hortas, in a statement that may offer little consolation to Bristol-Myers employees, said the company is "committed to protecting the privacy and security of employee and dependent information." On a positive note, the data on the missing backup tape was protected by a 12-character password and a jumbled text format that might make it had for the average, run-of-the-mill thief to access.

For more on the data theft:
 - See this Computerworld article