Attorneys for Stanadyne Corporation have filed a letter with the Attorney General of New Hampshire. A laptop with sensitive information was stolen from an employee’s car on June 27. While the computer in question had password encryption, a copy of the letter to be sent to affect employees, and former employees, notes that “there are procedures that could be used to bypass the login security of the machine.” While not mentioned outright, it seem obvious that disk encryption solutions like AlertBoot were not used to secure the information found on that laptop.
The compromised information includes names, addresses, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers. Although a total of four employees were affected when it comes to New Hampshire residents, it’s not known how high the total number may go. It was not mentioned why such sensitive information was being carried about, although an investigation was launched to see if any company procedures were violated.
One of the more interesting things about the letter to the AG is that the company claims to know exactly what information was on that stolen laptop computer. Apparently, whenever the laptop is plugged in to the company network, company records are updated to reflect the contents of that laptop. The wording is nebulous, so I’m not sure what they mean exactly, but I don’t think they mean a backup is made. What do they mean? I guess it means “don’t let lawyers write up technical descriptions.”
What’s the price to pay in order to be so forthright? Much less than you think. AlertBoot is a managed encryption service, so a company doesn’t have to invest—or as some people might see it, “waste money”—in setting up the right infrastructure. All one has to do is install a small installer, connect to the internet, and let ‘er rip. That’s it.
Not that I’m claiming that the only thing you have to do to secure your data is encrypt the hard drive on your computer. Which, incidentally, is why AlertBoot also provides the blocking of ports and software applications (managed via white and black lists), as well as providing a powerful reporting.
Related Sites:
http://doj.nh.gov/consumer/pdf/stanadyne.pdf