Stolen Laptop Has 93,000 Student ID's

A laptop computer containing names and Social Security numbers of 93,000 people who attended Metropolitan State College of Denver from 1996 to 2005 was stolen from a campus employee's home, leaving students vulnerable to identity theft. The laptop was taken from the home of an admissions office employee Saturday. He was authorized to have the data for a grant he was working on for the school, said Metro State president Stephen Jordan. The Social Security numbers were used to identify and track students and access historical information about them. The employee is also a graduate student in the department of public affairs at the University of Colorado at Denver and was using the data to complete his master's thesis. Campus officials are investigating whether the employee should have been allowed to use the data for his thesis and if disciplinary action should be taken. The school is also probing procedures to determine if policies on releasing and storing certain data should be revamped.

Source - Denver Post