Thousands of M&S employee details contained on stolen laptop
Marks & Spencer has warned 26,000 staff that their personal data could be at risk following theft of a laptop computer containing pension information from a firm of printers.
Staff names, salary details, home addresses and national insurance numbers were on the laptop which was stolen from the printing company on Wednesday 18 April during a burglary. The retailer warned workers they were at risk if criminals accessed and used the data on the laptop. The printers were given the laptop with the staff details so it could print letters informing M&S employees about pension changes. Staff affected by the theft have been offered free credit checks by the retailer. Experts said that regardless of the motive for the theft, if the data was only protected by a simple password, data could easily be compromised.
“Staff and customers are increasingly concerned about the possibility of identity theft, and the offending company suffers not only high financial costs, but also risks enormous damage to their brand in the aftermath of a breach,” said Jamie Cowper, European marketing director at PGP.
