Gap Says Laptop Containing Job Applicant Data Stolen
Gap is disclosing that a laptop filled with job applicant data has been stolen. The laptop contained the personal information of 800,000 job applicants, including social security numbers.
What are the odds that the Gap takes this "very seriously?" Let's find out:
"Gap Inc. deeply regrets this incident occurred. We take our obligation to protect the data security of personal information very seriously," Gap CEO Glenn "Stop The Bleeding" Murphy, said in a statement.
While they're taking it seriously, you should be paying attention to your credit report if you applied online or by phone for store positions with the company's Old Navy, Banana Republic, Gap and Outlet stores from the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada between July 2006 and June 2007.
The Gap has declined to divulge the name of the firm that lost the laptop. The Gap thinks that the data was not the target of the theft, and that someone just wanted a new computer.
Gap is offering a year of free credit monitoring services and fraud resolution assistance, along with a 24-hour help line at 1-866-237-4007.
This is a test using rich text formatting and html links. It's the generic "company" ad that should appear on all posts with the Company category if they don't have an ad attached to a specific company.
Post a comment
Comments:
I can see 80 or so job applicants on someone's company laptop, but 800,000? Is it supposed to be a portable server? Well I think it is safe to say that it has just become someone's portable gold mine.
Good job Gap!
@demonradio: Yeah, and then they'll probably pass you over for someone who put it in there because they can then snoop on your credit report and other stuff that doesn't have all that much to do with how good a worker you are.
I still get callbacks. I mostly do consulting nonsense.
Never ever ever give them your SS numbers! It's not required. They can have it after they hire you.
Those people don't have any money anyway! They want to work at Gap!
/Just kidding
They take identity theft seriously? It's almost like they're just parroting examples out of the Webster Dictionary of Corporate Communication. They're not even trying!
I worked in Human Resources in the 80s and we weren't asking for SSNs on applications back then. These are companies who are using a standard form?
What surprises me most isn't the loss of the notebook, it's that 800k people took the time to apply for a job with the Gap...
800,000 applicants? That strains credibility.
Have someone noticed that it's so often that sensitive job data and SSN is stolen off a laptop? Not a network security breach, just a laptop.
Secure information should never be available offline on the laptop's harddrive. Only online through a secured server.
If they cared about this data, they wouldn't do it.
Since when is Gap a govermnent agency?
@scoobydoo Aw, c'mon. Lots of high school kids or college kids needing a part time job might have applied; I did. It can beat flipping burgers and emptying grease vats. Of course, folding those freaking tee shirts over and over can get really old, really fast.
We need a Federal Law stating it will cost $1,000 per leaked ID, no reprieve, no excuses, just cut a check. To sweeten the pot, the victim will share half with the US Treasury.
For giggles, the top 5% of the company and the board of directors will have to publish their personal data on an unsecure server based in Niger.
Within a year, these stories will disappear.
Maybe I'm dense, but I don't see how this information should EVER be on a laptop in the first place...
Gross negligence comes to mind.
"I don't see how this information should EVER be on a laptop in the first place.."
Bingo. My work laptop travels with me a great deal and my work involves access to quite a bit of sensitive information (test scores). NOTHING is stored on the laptop itself, and you can't get to our servers via the laptop without my password which is only my head and my RSA token which is carried separate from the laptop. So anyone who steals that little Dell will end up with nothing other than my downloaded games (Bookworm Deluxe!) and some .mp3 files.
Asplod & Snake -
Yup, that's what's so mindboggling every time this happens.
We really need to make it ruinous for the corporations, and for the execs, when they're criminally negligent. Stress on the word "criminal".
I hate Gap. I used to work at a Old Navy and they turn you into their credit card pushing minions.
See, this is why when I apply for jobs I put "Will disclose upon hiring" in the SS number field. I'm not just going to pass out all of my personal info to some schmuck who I don't even know (or one I do know, for that matter). People are morons. I'm just going to work from home..