The Gap clothing chain has had a rough year from a financial perspective. But, things got worse this past week when a laptop containing the information of 800,000 job applicants was stolen.
The data was not encrypted. Creepy when you consider this earlier story.
From the AP (via CTV.ca)
A thief stole a laptop computer containing unencrypted personal information of 800,000 people who applied for jobs at Gap Inc., the clothing retailer announced Friday.
The laptop stored Social Security numbers and other data from people in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada who applied online and by phone between July 2006 and June 2007 for jobs at Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic and Outlet stores.
The incident came on the heels of a finding this week by the Canadian government that another international retailer, TJX Cos., hadn’t sufficiently encrypted data it stored from customer transactions, and that failure enabled hackers who intercepted wireless communications to steal data on millions of customers.
Gap has declined to identify the company that lost the laptop with their information. A move that I find a little peculiar as they will now take the brunt of the press storm. If anyone has a tip on the company that lost the laptop feel free to leave a comment.
Tags: Gap Data Loss, Gap Laptop Stolen, Data Breach
