Stolen Laptop Contained 32,000 Farmers' Financial Data

About 32,000 Canadian farmers are on the alert after learning a laptop containing their financial information has been stolen since June 2008.

The laptop was stolen when a programmer working for the Canadian Canola Growers Association took the machine off-site for routine maintenance. CCGA general manager Rick White described the theft as a classic "smash and grab."

The laptop has the bank account numbers and social insurance numbers of farmers who applied for Agriculture Canada's advance payments program, which is administered by the CCGA on behalf of the federal government.

The federal department has sent letters out to all farmers affected by the theft.

"We treat this very seriously," White said. "This is an unfortunate incident, a very low-risk one."

While farmers should report any suspicious financial transactions, the strict security measures being used on the laptop reduce the chances of information being misused, White said.

"There was a very strong password protection on it, [and] there was a biometric fingerprint reader on it," he said. "That would prohibit anyone other than the user or the person with the password to access the data on the laptop."

The Canadian Canola Growers Association represents six provincial grower organizations in Canada, from Ontario across the Prairies to B.C.

Some people commented this incident. One of them said:

"As for the laptop, even with all the security place, there is no reason the laptop should be taken off-site for routine maintenance with all that critical private data on it. The data should have been copied onto an external hard drive in a secure on-site setting, the private files on the laptop not just deleted, but shredded to make them irretrievable before the laptop was taken out for routine servicing. This is how I would expect my private data to be protected by the government. With all the high tech identity theft going on these days I would not want to trust that the theft was probably done by someone who didn't know how to access the information. There is also absolutely no reason that an offsite computer maintenance company should have access to this private data. It makes no sense. The government needs to take a serious look at its IT security policies."

Yes, the theft was probably done by someone who did know how to access the information. This is why reliable encryption is more and more crucial to keep data safe.

Contact Update : 2012-01-06	Peter Lyon Software Stolen Laptop Contained 32,000 Farmers' Financial Data Home
Learn from stories Indian defence sites attacked GhostNet and Dalai Lama Trojan horses in new discs Prosecutor secret sold Military secret in Afghan Arrest for veteran data Nuclear aims in computer Citizens advice data unsafe Nationwide laptop was probed MI5 secret data stolen HP employee data compromised Drives stolen from RAF Saskatchewan health data Private info from home Computer turn traitor on You Stolen from Wilkinson Hall Mortgage database in laptop Farmers financial secret Personal data of students Gap laptop records stolen Patients unencrypted data	http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2008/06/05/canola-information.html About 32,000 Canadian farmers are on the alert after learning a laptop containing their financial information has been stolen since June 2008. The laptop was stolen when a programmer working for the Canadian Canola Growers Association took the machine off-site for routine maintenance. CCGA general manager Rick White described the theft as a classic "smash and grab." The laptop has the bank account numbers and social insurance numbers of farmers who applied for Agriculture Canada's advance payments program, which is administered by the CCGA on behalf of the federal government. The federal department has sent letters out to all farmers affected by the theft. "We treat this very seriously," White said. "This is an unfortunate incident, a very low-risk one." While farmers should report any suspicious financial transactions, the strict security measures being used on the laptop reduce the chances of information being misused, White said. "There was a very strong password protection on it, [and] there was a biometric fingerprint reader on it," he said. "That would prohibit anyone other than the user or the person with the password to access the data on the laptop." The Canadian Canola Growers Association represents six provincial grower organizations in Canada, from Ontario across the Prairies to B.C. Some people commented this incident. One of them said: "As for the laptop, even with all the security place, there is no reason the laptop should be taken off-site for routine maintenance with all that critical private data on it. The data should have been copied onto an external hard drive in a secure on-site setting, the private files on the laptop not just deleted, but shredded to make them irretrievable before the laptop was taken out for routine servicing. This is how I would expect my private data to be protected by the government. With all the high tech identity theft going on these days I would not want to trust that the theft was probably done by someone who didn't know how to access the information. There is also absolutely no reason that an offsite computer maintenance company should have access to this private data. It makes no sense. The government needs to take a serious look at its IT security policies." Yes, the theft was probably done by someone who did know how to access the information. This is why reliable encryption is more and more crucial to keep data safe. Back to Help
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