Universal Technical Institute recently notified 98 applicants that their names and Social Security Numbers were on a laptop stolen from UTI’s Phoenix office on November 18. In some cases, applicants’ contact details and dates of birth were also included in the file.
By letter to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office dated January 131, UTI indicated that although the laptop was password-protected, the file containing applicant information was unencrypted.
UTI offered the affected applicants one year of free credit monitoring services.
And no, I have no idea why in this day and age, UTI would request or record Social Security Number, and can only hope that Congress passes some legislation that puts a halt to this usually unnecessary and always risky practice.