Jocelyn Wright provides additional details on the previously mentioned breach involving a device stolen from Rice University. As the headline indicates in their student newspaper suggests, it appears that the device was stolen off-campus, although the university is not providing additional detail on that. The article also indicates that the data on the stolen device were not encrypted.
Wright describes the contents:
The device contained two files copied from a computer which contained the personal data of the 7,250 employees on Rice payroll as of January 2010. The data on the device was not encrypted. Senior Director of News and Media Relations B.J. Almond said the police requested he refrain from giving any additional details about the device or the information contained on it to prevent the thief from gaining any potentially useful information. As of Sept. 15, Almond said none of the information on the device had been used maliciously.
Approximately 2,270 people affected were undergraduate and graduate students, but only three students’ Social Security numbers were stolen. Of the remaining faculty and staff, Almond estimated about 4,000 had their Social Security number stolen. There were also two employees whose bank account information was leaked. Almond said those two employees have already been notified of the theft.
Read more on The Rice Thresher.