Stolen Boeing laptop puts (382,000) employee information in jeopardy

[Newsjock]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/295768_boeingtheft12ww.html

A laptop with personal information on hundreds of thousands of Boeing Co. employees was stolen earlier this month, and the aerospace company will inform those potentially affected by the theft in a company e-mail today.

"In the first week of December, a laptop was stolen from an employee's car," Boeing spokeswoman Kelly Danaghy said. "That laptop had files that contained Social Security numbers for about 382,000 past and present employees, and in most cases it also included a home address, phone number and date of birth."

... Boeing does not want to reveal what city the theft occurred in because the person who took the computer might not realize what he or she has. But Danaghy said the computer contained information about employees at all Boeing plants.

This isn't the first time the theft of a laptop has compromised security for Boeing employees.

In April of this year, the personal information of about 3,600 employees was compromised when a laptop was taken from a Boeing human resources employee at an airport. In November 2005, a similar theft put the personal data of about 161,000 employees in jeopardy.

[Newsjock]

1. And just let me say this ...

... Sure seems like a lot of sensitive laptops are getting "stolen" these days, doesn't it. Those "thieves" must be very "busy," huh.

[Old and In the Way]

2. What's the point of secure systems when the info gets downladed on mobile laptops?

There certainly does seem to be a concerted effort to gain information on all employees...there has been way too many of these incidents in the past few years to think it was all just bad luck. I wonder who and how this information will be used against the employees of Boeing?