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FAQ on Stolen Laptop Incident

LAST UPDATED: August 7, 2008.

Questions & Answers regarding a stolen laptop which contained restricted information about Stanford employees.

 

  1. What happened?

    A laptop was stolen that contained records of approximately 62,000 current and former employees.* On June 5 we learned that it contained confidential personal information. Immediately upon learning of this situation, Stanford mobilized to identify contact information for the affected individuals and sent e-mail notification to current employees, including faculty and staff. We have mailed notification letters to the rest of the affected individuals.

    * Original estimates placed the number of affected individuals as high as 72,000.

  2. Am I affected?

    Your personal identifying information is likely to be in the data file if you received a paycheck from Stanford prior to September 28, 2007. This group includes faculty, staff and students who have been employed by the University in any capacity. SLAC and Stanford Hospital employee information is not in the file unless the employee previously worked at or is otherwise affiliated with the University. SLAC retiree information may be included in the data file since retirees receive retirement benefits through the University. We have sent notification letters to affected individuals. If you have not received a letter but believe that your information may have been contained on the stolen laptop, please call 1-888-200-8799 between 6:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. (Pacific Time) M-F to speak with a Kroll customer service representative and confirm whether or not you are an affected individual.

  3. If I didn’t receive an e-mail or letter, does this mean that my information was not on the stolen laptop?

    No. While we tried to reach everyone whose information was on the laptop, we may not have current contact information for you. If you believe that your information may have been contained on the stolen laptop, please call 1-888-200-8799 between 6:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. (Pacific Time) M-F to speak with a Kroll customer service representative and confirm whether or not you are an affected individual.

  4. What will Stanford do to help mitigate the cost and inconvenience to me?

    Stanford is committed to providing enhanced safeguards against identity theft for affected individuals. We have entered into a relationship with Kroll, a New York-based risk-consulting company, to provide one year of credit reporting, credit monitoring, and identity  restoration services at university expense. If you are an affected individual, you should have received a notification letter describing how to take advantage of these services. If you believe that your information may have been contained on the stolen laptop, and have not received a letter, please call 1-888-200-8799 between 6:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. (Pacific Time) M-F to speak with a Kroll customer service representative and confirm whether or not you are an affected individual.

  5. What data was on the laptop?
    • Name, gender, date of birth
    • Social Security number
    • Salary, business title, office location, office phone number, and e-mail address while employed by Stanford
    • Home address and phone number while employed by Stanford
    • Stanford ID card number and Stanford employee number

    There are no driver’s license numbers, credit card numbers, bank account numbers or other financial information in this file.

  6. Has the data been misused?

    We believe that the perpetrator of the crime was not seeking the records on the computer or even aware of them. Often, such thefts are property crimes in which the laptop's hard drive is erased before the laptop is resold. To date, we have no knowledge that the personal identity information contained on the laptop has been accessed or misused. We will update this website promptly if we learn otherwise.

  7. Why was this information on a laptop?

    A non-managerial staff member, as part of his ongoing job responsibility, made a backup copy of the table containing personal identity information. The table was erroneously copied to his laptop instead of to a secure server and not promptly deleted thereafter. Stanford’s information security policies and guidelines do not allow unencrypted confidential personal data to be stored on any unprotected system. This employee’s actions, although unintentional, violated our policy. Subsequent to the incident, the employee resigned and left the University.

  8. How can you be sure a similar incident won’t happen again?

    Clearly, this incident violated our information security policies and guidelines, and it demonstrates that we must have heightened vigilance in this area. To that end, Randy Livingston, Vice President for Business Affairs and CFO, is leading a task force to review and improve policies and practices regarding security of confidential data.

  9. Is there an investigation into this incident?

    Stanford has reported the stolen laptop to law enforcement and is working with them to identify the perpetrator(s). We cannot discuss further detail of an active investigation.

  10. What else is the University doing?

    In addition to working with law enforcement to recover the laptop, Stanford has alerted Human Resources and the Computer Help Desk about this incident.  Requests for changes to passwords or personnel profiles will be carefully scrutinized. Most importantly, Stanford is committed to working with our affected community members to safeguard against identity fraud that may result from this crime. To that end, Stanford is providing free credit reporting, credit monitoring, and identity restoration services to all affected individuals.  In addition, if we discover a pattern of fraud over the next few months, we will provide further notification to everyone affected.

  11. What do affected individuals need to know to safeguard themselves?

    Stanford is making credit reporting, credit monitoring and fraud restoration services available to affected individuals through Kroll, a New York-based risk consulting company. If you are an affected individual, you should have received a notification letter by describing how to take advantage of these services.  If you believe that your information may have been contained on the stolen laptop, and have not received a letter, please call 1-888-200-8799 between 6:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. (Pacific Time) M-F to speak with a Kroll customer service representative and confirm whether or not you are an affected individual.

    In addition, you will find information about your rights and precautions that you may take at:
  12. What have you done to inform affected individuals about the incident?

    We immediately began our effort to contact employees as soon as we learned that files on the stolen laptop contained sensitive employee information. We reached out to current employees by e-mail and have mailed notification to everyone else with information in the data file. We also notified the press. We want to be sure that the information reaches the broadest audience possible so that everyone affected will hear the news and have an opportunity to take appropriate action.

  13. Why have I had issues accessing Kroll’s online credit monitoring services using Firefox and Safari?

    According to Kroll, their credit monitoring website is certified by VeriSign as secure. The certificate is current and valid.  When accessing the website through Safari, a message displays to some users stating the security of the site is not recognized.  There is an apparent conflict with how Safari reads the details of the certificate.  It should be noted that accessing the site using Firefox v.2 may provide users with a similar message.  When the message displays, users can either click the option “accept this certificate permanently” to proceed, or they can access the site through the current version of Firefox (version 3).  Firefox v.3 can be downloaded from http://www.mozilla.com.  Kroll is in the process of working with VeriSign to see if changes can be made to the certificate so it will be recognized by all browsers.

  14. I am an affected individual currently living outside of the United States or with a permanent international address.  What services should I expect to receive from Kroll?
    Kroll uses guidelines set forth by the U.S. State Department to determine the services that it can provide to individuals who reside outside of the United States.  

    If your current residence is not in Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Sudan or Syria, you will have (i) free credit reporting and monitoring services, (ii) access to Kroll's call center to ask questions about unusual activity in your credit file, and (iii) identity theft restoration services if you experience identity fraud related to the stolen laptop incident if you meet all three qualifications listed below:


    a) You are 18 or older;

    b) You have a U.S. Social Security number issued in your name; and

    c) You have a U.S. residential address associated with your credit file

    If your current residence is not in Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Sudan or Syria and either you are under 18 or you do not have a U.S. residential address associated with your credit file, then you will have access to Kroll's call center and identity theft restoration services if you experience identity fraud related to the stolen laptop incident, but not Kroll's credit reporting and monitoring services.

    If your current residence is in Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Sudan or Syria, Kroll cannot provide you with any services.
  15. Can I get more information?

    Currently, this is the most recent information that we have about this incident. We will be updating this FAQ if there is new information. In the meantime, if you wish to know if you are an affected individual, would like more information about Kroll’s services, or have other questions, please call 1-888-200-8799 between 6:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. (Pacific Time) M-F to speak with a Kroll customer service representative.