Uh Oh....did I forget to encrypt something ?

Thursday, June 19 2008 @ 10:38 AM EDTContributed by: PrivacyNews

On Memorial Day, the offices of Colt Express Outsourcing Services, Inc. in Walnut Creek, California were burglarized. Computers containing the personal information of approximately 6,500 of CNet's current and former employees and their dependents were stolen.

On June 4, Colt notified CNet of the incident. Colt administers CNet's employee benefits plan, and the information on the stolen computers included first and last names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, addresses, hire dates, benefits group numbers and relationship to policyholder (for dependents).

CNet was not the only Colt client whose data were on the stolen computers. According to the notification letter from Alan Charles Raul of Sidley Austin LLP, CNet was "among many of Colt's clients whose data were on the stolen computers."

In his notification letter to CNet, Samuel G. Colt III, CEO, wrote:By this letter and enclosures, we are providing you with all of the information we believe you need, and that we are able to give you. We do not have the resources, financial and otherwise, to assist you further. Towards the end of last year, our customer base was reduced to an unsustainable level. Colt has been in the process of going out of business, while at the same time providing time for remaining customers to find alternative solutions. Those decisions are now final."

A state-by-state breakdown of the number of CNet employees and dependents is included with the letter. Of the 6500 affected, over 4,000 employees and dependents are in California.
CNet arranged with Equifax to offer its employees the Credit Watch Gold program.

Updated 6-23-08: A Cnet spokesperson just confirmed that the data on the stolen computer were not encrypted. The computer has not been recovered to date. So far, there have been no reports of misuse of the data
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Aside from the obvious, this is irritating because one would hope that a company that does business with such names as Google and Cnet would have their ducks lined up - apparently not.