Almost 14,000 people — the size of a small American town — today may be susceptible to identity theft due to a single robbery of a laptop computer.

Rochester Institute of Technology discovered that on August 25, a laptop containing the names, Social Security numbers, and birth dates of nearly 14,000 people had been stolen from an office of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.

Information dating back to 1968 on these individuals is currently in the hands of an unknown party. In a media statement reported by the DemocratandChronicle.com, RIT Chief Communications Officer Bob Finnerty claims, “We don’t know if that information has been accessed or not,” and went on to suggest that all individuals affected by the theft contact a major credit bureau and place a fraud alert on their credit file.

Finnerty also notes that RIT consistently reviews and updates their security, and that the processes are currently being analyzed to see if and how they can be improved.

The irony, though, is that these nearly 14,000 people would have been spared the time and drudgery of calling credit bureaus and checking credit scores — would have experienced none of the anxiety attributed to potential identity theft — if RIT’s mobile computer had been equipped with laptop tracking security technology such as that provided by MyLaptopGPS.

One incident of identity theft surely should be enough to encourage protection, but certainly, almost 14,000 victims’ possible screams mean change ought to be in order. Any such screams, after all, should be heeded.