After a lull in security incidents following a string of breaches between 2006 and 2008, Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer recently reported another security incident.
According to a notification (pdf) filed by their attorneys, a Pfizer employee “inadvertently left a backup hard drive in a box that was discarded in the trash on March 26, 2009. Because the municipality in which this employee resides incinerates the trash within 24 hours after it is picked up, the risk of identity theft associated with this incident is very low.”
The hard drive reportedly contained names and Social Security numbers, and Pfizer is offering those affected two years of free credit monitoring and credit restoration services via ID Experts. The notification did not indicate the total number of individuals affected.