14 DAY TRIAL // Employees at the human resources department of a company are constantly working with sensitive data belonging to other workers, and the information they handle needs to benefit from increased protection, especially if it is stored on a mobile computer.
Covanta, a company in the business of sustainable waste management, reported an incident at the beginning of the month, which exposed sensitive information of its employees.
Encrypting data on laptops is efficient against burglaries
Names, addresses, social security numbers, and probably other sort of details are currently at risk as a result of a company laptop being stolen from the car of a human resources member.
Although burglary cases involving electronic equipment are typically focused on stealing the devices and selling them for a quick buck, thieves nowadays may make the effort of taking a peek at the information stored before exchanging it for cash.
Sensitive information can be quickly sold on underground forums and used for various nefarious businesses, from stealing the identity of the victim for credit/tax fraud to creating fake documentation.
The thing is that the data stored on a laptop can increase the profit of the thief, and burglars started to realize this.
However, a simple precaution like encrypting the information, which is highly recommended by data protection bodies, can thwart the crook’s efforts to increase their revenue and save the organization a lot of trouble and costs.
Free identity protection and credit monitoring offered
The Covanta incident was reported on May 20, and both the company and law enforcement have started an investigation, the former to apprehend the perpetrator, and the latter to determine the affected individuals.
For the moment, the company does not have any evidence that the data available on the laptop has been misused, but it advises its employees to remain vigilant for fraud and identity theft attempts, by reviewing bank account statements and the free credit reports.
Covanta also provides optional enrollment to a credit monitoring service for a period of one year, with no cost for the affected employees.