US Dept. Laptop Theft Poses Security Threat

A stolen laptop from the US department of Transportation containing personal information of more than 133,000 Florida residents has caused alarm in the US, over a potential security threat. The laptop was stolen from a government owned vehicle on July 27th and the theft has exposed vital data to identity fraud. Four database with names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and addresses covering holders of Florida pilot’s and driver’s licenses, both commercial and personal are stored in the stolen laptop. The incident is a cause for concern, especially because it is the latest, in a long string of recent data security breaches in the US. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is still recovering from the theft of a laptop and external hard disk drive that exposed the identities of 26.5 million veterans. Moreover, the Metropolitan State College in Denver, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Los Angeles’ Department of Social Services have been plagued by data thefts via laptops and computers.Read more here.