An unencrypted laptop was stolen from a Washington state detective's vehicle, exposing the data of thousands of people, including crime victims, witnesses, suspects and police.
How many victims? 2,300, including crime victims, witnesses, suspects and police officers.
What type of personal information? Social Security and driver's license numbers, as well as other sensitive data.
What happened? In March, an unencrypted laptop was stolen from a King County, Wash. detective's pickup truck.
What was the response? Last week, the King County Sheriff's Office (KCSO) notified victims of the breach.
Details: The sheriff's office, which serves the city of Seattle among others, was in the midst of encrypting data on all of its computers, but the process was not completed yet on the laptop when it was stolen.
Quote: On the sheriff's office taking three months to notify victims, KCSO Det. Sgt. Katie Larson said KCSO had to determine who was at risk. "It's not something you can just press a button and it all pops up for you,” Larson said. “Somebody had to go through and read everything and cull out all of that information.”
Source: www.komonews.com, Komo News Network, “Detective's stolen laptop puts thousands at risk of identity theft,” June 24, 2013.
