Iron Mountain loses worker data tapes from Time Warner

[paineinthearse]

For the record, the reporter (Hiawatha Bray) has a track record of being a conservative blogger. See history in the Massachusetts forum.

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http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/05/03/snafu_puts_600000_at_security_risk/

Snafu puts 600,000 at security risk
Iron Mountain loses worker data tapes from Time Warner
By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff | May 3, 2005

Time Warner Inc., one of the world's largest media companies, said yesterday that the Boston data-archiving firm Iron Mountain last month misplaced computer data tapes with the personal records of 600,000 current or former Time Warner employees. It's the latest in a spate of high-profile security breaches involving personal data on millions of Americans. Iron Mountain is the world's largest data-archiving company. It collects paper and digital records from businesses nationwide, storing them in secure remote locations. The company runs a major storage center in New Jersey, where documents from many New York-based companies are stored.

On March 22, an Iron Mountain driver made a routine pickup of data tapes from Time Warner. ''It was one container -- a small container, maybe the size of a cooler, with computer backup tapes," said Iron Mountain spokeswoman Melissa Burman. The tapes contained data on 85,000 current Time Warner employees, and another 515,000 people who formerly worked for the company, some outside contractors, and some dependents of Time Warner employees. The company's records confirm that the driver logged the package into his truck's computer system. But when the truck arrived at the storage site, the package was gone. Iron Mountain launched its own investigation, and contacted Time Warner. That company contacted the US Secret Service, which investigates cases of computer fraud.

The Time Warner-Iron Mountain incident is the latest in a series of reports about misplaced or stolen personal data. In February, Bank of America lost data tapes with personal records of over a million government workers. In the same month, database company ChoicePoint Inc. said it had mistakenly sold data on 145,000 Americans to criminals. And two local colleges -- Boston College and Tufts University -- announced that records for over 200,000 alumni might have been stolen after computers at the two schools were compromised.

In the ChoicePoint case, some of the stolen information was used to defraud consumers. But in most of the recent incidents, there's no proof that sensitive information was actually stolen. Indeed, there's no indication that any of the personal information on the Time Warner tapes has been used by criminals.

more......

Hiawatha Bray can be reached at [email protected].

[Ian David]

1. Maybe it's with Congress' credit card info and Ohio's ballots

All waiting to be data-entered into CAPPS II for Homeland Security.

[jayfish]

2. Hmmm.... How Long Before Congress Passes...

a law that will protect these companies from lawsuits? It seems like the logical, fascist choice to me.

Jay