Stolen laptop has personal data for hundreds of Minnesotans

Last update: December 28, 2007 - 10:04 PM

Names, Social Security numbers and other personal information for 219 Minnesotans licensed by the state Department of Commerce are on a laptop computer reported stolen more than three weeks ago.

Commerce Department officials said Friday that the computer belonging to a vendor went missing Dec. 6 in Philadelphia. The vendor, Promissor Corp., notified police of the apparent theft but waited until Dec. 21 to tell the Minnesota agency, a state spokesman said.

The department uses the company to manage licensing data for the real estate, mortgage and debt collection industries in Minnesota. According to the Minnesota department, the data was stored on an employee's computer hard drive, which was protected by a password but lacked more sophisticated encryption.

Commerce Department spokesman Bill Walsh said the agency didn't know the full extent of the missing data on Minnesotans until Friday.

"We're very concerned about the delay, and we're looking into whether they followed our state laws disclosing the information," Walsh said.

The agency is working to notify people whose sensitive data could be compromised. The company is offering to pay for a credit-watch monitoring service for the affected people.

State officials were told the computer contains information for a total of 257 people, including some living in Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

ASSOCIATED PRESS