Laptop Theft Hits MCI Employees

Another U.S. corporation found itself facing a potential identity theft nightmare, as 16,500 current and former employees of telecom giant MCI were told that the theft of a laptop has put their personal data at risk.

Representatives of the massive telecom company said a laptop containing identity information for 16,500 current and former MCI employees had been stolen from an MCI financial analyst's car. The car had reportedly been left unlocked in an unlocked garage. Although the laptop had the usual password-protection mechanism in place, it is not known whether or not the personal data on the laptop was encrypted — although that very uncertainty led some observers to fear the worst.

The employee information on the stolen computer, which included names and Social Security numbers, was stolen about a month before MCI disclosed the theft publicly. In notification letters sent out to the affected employees, MCI attempts to put the best possible face on the incident, emphasizing that the company has "no evidence" that the sensitive data has been put to any fraudulent use.

The financial analyst whose laptop was stolen was reportedly using the employee data to analyze financial trends within MCI. In other computer thefts and intrusions involving sensitive personal data provided to researchers — notably two large-scale incidents at the University of California at Berkeley — consumer advocates have harshly criticized the provision of personal data, such as Social Security numbers, with no direct relevance to the research in question.