Ameriprise, 230,000 SSNs, Stolen Laptop
On Wednesday, Ameriprise Financial, an investment advisor firm, said that a company laptop stolen from an employee’s parked car in December contained the personal information of some 230,000 customers and company advisors, The New York Times reports.
The sensitive information contained in the laptop included the names and Social Security numbers of roughly 70,000 current and former financial advisors, as well as the names and internal account numbers of about 158,000 customers.
Andrew MacMillan, Ameriprise spokesperson, said the culprits likely had no idea that the laptop contained sensitive information, and in turn, the potential risk of “any data being used or discovered is very low.” MacMillan noted that the laptop was protected by a password, but the data was not encrypted, a blatant breach of the company’s privacy regulations. Ameriprise has fired the employee involved.
Via CSOBlog.