http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=security&articleId=9004809 By Eric Lai November 06, 2006 Computerworld SEATTLE -- Starbucks Corp. has lost four laptops, including two with the names and Social Security numbers of nearly 60,000 current and former employees. There is no indication that any of the private information for its "partners" -- Starbucks' terminology for its employees -- was misused, the coffee chain said in a statement Friday. The laptops, which were password-protected, went missing from Starbucks' Corporate Support Center in Seattle. They included private information for employees, mostly American and some Canadian, at all levels who worked at Starbucks before Dec. 31, 2003. The company said it discovered that the laptops were missing on Sept. 6 and began an internal investigation. The company is notifying all employees whose information was believed to be on the missing laptops. It is also offering free credit-protection services to those potentially affected. A Starbucks spokesman declined to describe what other security safeguards, if any, the lost laptops contained. The company said the laptops, which at the time were not in regular use, may still be in Starbucks' possession. "We are currently reinforcing our corporate policies and updating procedures related to the protection of personal data in an effort to ensure that this type of incident does not occur in the future," the company said. _________________________________ Visit the InfoSec News store! http://www.shopinfosecnews.org
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