DC Workers' Personal Data Stolen

Some 13,000 current and former workers in the District of Columbia government today will receive letters informing them that an unprotected laptop containing their personal information has been stolen.

The laptop belonged to a DC-area agent of financial services firm ING, which handles the voluntary retirement program for government employees in the nation's capital. It was stolen in a burglary of the agent's home, along with an air compressor, a nail gun, a game station, nine cans of beer, and two jars of change.

The laptop was not password-protected, and its data was not encrypted. An ING spokesperson said the company is moving quickly to ensure that all of its other laptops meet its policy for encryption and password protection, according to local television reports and The Washington Post.

The burglary took place on June 10, but the DC employees are being told about the data loss for the first time today. ING has volunteered to set up and pay for a year of credit monitoring and identity protection for the 13,000 workers.

This is the second time this month that a home robbery in DC has led to a major loss of personal information. The first time, an unprotected laptop containing personal information on 25.5 million U.S. veterans was stolen from the home of an employee at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

— Tim Wilson, Site Editor, Dark Reading