Agilent Technologies breaches 51,000, shifts blame

Who Breached: Agilent Technologies
Number Affected: 51,000
Information breached: Social Security Numbers
How: laptop theft

Another case of a laptop being stolen from the trunk of a car has resulted in another data breach incident. This seems to be an all-too common incident that businesses, and employees, are not learning from. Simple procedures could have avoided the laptop being in the car, and as shown below, ensured the laptop was encrypted and that private information was stored on it only if absolutely necessary.

The laptop contained personal information, including Social Security Numbers and stock option information, of 51,000 current and former Agilent Technologies employees. In a notification to affected individuals, Agilent laid blame for the incident on a contractor, Stock & Option Solutions, for not encrypting information as per their contract. However, this seems to be shifting the blame.

Agilent, which spun off from HP in 1999, is not unfamiliar with data breaches. HP employees were affected by a 2006 laptop theft. Unfortunately, it does not look like security measures were improved significantly enough to safeguard the data in this case. Although data breaches can happen even to the most prepared company, much can be done to protect (and recover or delete) the sensitive information.

Absolute Software recently published a whitepaper indicating that 50% of data breaches are the result of a lost laptop. You can download this whitepaper from the homepage here.

Via San Jose Mercury News Tags: agilent, agilent technologies, data breach, breach, laptop theft, laptop security