Data theft headaches grow

Another week, yet another data theft. This time a laptop PC was stolen containing unencrypted, confidential data on March 4 and the event was disclosed after the company began notifying employees that their data had been snatched. Agilent Technologies, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based maker of test and measurement equipment, sent letters to 51,000 current and former employees telling then that some of their personal and financial data had been stolen. The breach occurred when a laptop was stolen from the car of a Stock & Option Solutions employee, a stock-plan management services firm that works for Agilent as a third-party contractor. What a headache! The data included names, addresses and Social Security numbers. It also included financial information relating to their Agilent stock options.

The theft of unprotected data seems to be occurring all the time. Last week, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health, said that a laptop containing personal and medical data on about 2,500 participants in a cardiac study had been stolen from an employee's locked trunk. The lesson from these tales: encrypt sensitive data and don't ever leave your laptop in your car even when it is locked.

For more on data thefts:
- Check out this ComputerWorld article