Personal data of 230,000 users of Ameriprise Financial..

Madrid, February 1 2006 - Today´s Oxygen3 24h-365d reminds users that it is important to keep their guard up at all-time, as underlined by a story published by SecurityProNews, concerning the laptop of an employee of Ameriprise Financial -a spin-off from American Express-, which was stolen from a car. The computer contained unencrypted information on more than 230,000 users.

Some 70,000 of these users were financial advisers, and the computer contained their names and Social Security numbers. The rest of the users, around 160,000, were clients, whose names and internal account numbers were stored on the computer. The information was readily accessible as it was not encrypted.

This story underlines the importance of practical security measures such as encryption, at all times, of information and the use of strong passwords to access the operating system. Although it may be somewhat inconvenient for the owner of the computer, such measures are highly useful, in particular with the company laptops that contain important information and, for one reason or another, are often taken outside company premises.

Oxygen3 24h-365d
by Panda Software

2006-02-02 10:17

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