MyLaptopGPS

Say you work for a large company–seems like a safe bet, right? You often have job security, generous benefits, and many other perks. You’d think that security would extend to your Social Security number and other data, which the company has by virtue of you being its employee. But that security isn’t always a given; in fact, it seldom is if the news is any indication. This, at least, is what workers for a large cable provider based in St. Louis, Mo., have learned.

On Aug. 13, The Associated Press reported on the theft of 12 laptops–yes, 12 of them–from Charter Communications Inc.’s offices. During the week prior to the AP report, just about 9,000 former and current employees received notification from the firm that their Social Security numbers, associated names and birth dates were on the stolen machines. Even so, Charter Communications has “no reason to believe that the information has been or will be used improperly,” according to a company spokesperson quoted in the news report.

But they most surely do.

Any time a laptop computer with thousands of people’s Social Security numbers matched to other identifying information goes missing to thieves, the assumption should be that each and every one of those individuals is at risk of all kinds of fraud at the hands of identity thieves.

After all, most laptop thieves aren’t stealing the machines just for the hardware. In fact, the hardware is typically of little use to them. Sure, stolen laptops refurbished for the black market can fetch “good coin,” but an identity thief steals a laptop computer from a business because he understands that most firms exercise poor control over the kind of information stored on these machines. The thief knows that he’ll eventually hit the mother lode: a spreadsheet with thousands of employees’ names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, and maybe more — the raw ingredients for identity theft.