[Kennesaw]

For some reason I find this very ironic and amusing.

[Wolfie]

"It would be very difficult to link this information and determine they were actual Social Security numbers in the first place," he said.

Done. Next step?

[ladyjane]

Now maybe they'll make it easier to communicate with them about errors and identity theft.

[Skooz]

I'm glad I'm not the only one.

I hope no one screws up their credit rating.

[Paradox]

People need to encrypt their laptops, and any data sources that they remove from "work", or whatever qualifies as work these days.

[theDentist]

Is there a fine for Companies that don't encrypt such important personal information? Seems if a company/organization leaves such data unprotected and it's stolen, they should be fined $500K minimum... maybe $1M.

[Wuli]

You got that right.

Equifax, works to identify "credit worthiness" for individuals and employers and to assist both in maintaining "credit worthiness", and in this modern age "credit worthiness" is under seige through modern methods of identity theft, and Equifax looses the personal information on its own employees, through negligence. That's rich.

[So Cal Rocket]

Someone is paying big bucks for this kind of data... this is no coincidence:

http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/14811799.htm

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/business/technology/14845242.htm

http://www.dailyindia.com/show/35351.php/Laptop-with-13000-identities-stolen

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/06/05/1669381.htm

[P-40]

So who do their employees call to put a fraud alert on their credit? :)

[Hegemony Cricket]

Oh, the Hugh Manatee...

[Fawn]

Not amusing....but amazing. All my information is registered with all 3 of these agencies. They are supposed to BE CAREFUL!! If my stuff is ever stolen....I will sue them.....

[RobRoy]

2,500 is a drop in the bucket. This must be the hot topic of the week.

[PAR35]

I can't figure out a legitimate reason for an employee to carry this information around with him or her - particularly US SS numbers in London.

[Post-Neolithic]

Is it just me or has there been a rash of these things lately? You have to wonder if it's a combined effort. Too many in a short span to be coincidence.

[6SJ7]

Employee names and partial and full Social Security numbers were on the computer's hard drive, though Rubinger said it would be almost impossible for the thief to decipher the information because it was streamed together.

Oh. OK. We now have an encryption method called 'streamed together'. Yup, that'll work! /sarc

[VOA]

bump for publicity

[Tall_Texan]

Anyone who has worked with credit bureaus wouldn't be surprised at this. They're just incompetant and, yet, everybody and their uncle depends on these sort of folks in calculating your credit score.

[fhlh]

I for one cannot believe this type of information is allowed to leave the ING offices, much less be on an unprotected laptop....

who is in-charge of IT security at ING???? (yes, I know it was prolly the laptop of some corporate big shot at ING and he/she that told the wirey IT guy to 'p1ss off' when it came to securing his data)

Idiots..

[stripes1776]

For some reason I find this very ironic and amusing.

It is certainly ironic. But why would the company allow sensitive information onto a laptop in the first place? Have they ever heard of establishing a security policy?

[ViLaLuz]

This sounds like Equifax is seeding their own business. Today I found out that since my data might have been stolen from the VA, I should pay Equifax to have my credit monitored.