Maloney Properties has seemingly joined the “stolen laptop” ranks.
By letter dated October 28 to those affected, the Massachusetts-based firm reported that a laptop stolen on October 15 contained some limited resident housing data including unencrypted Social Security numbers.
The firm explained that it was necessary to store SSN because of federal and state housing subsidies, and in most (but not all) cases, the first five digits of the SSN were redacted.
The firm did not offer those affected any free credit monitoring services. Nor did it describe the circumstances under which the laptop had been stolen.
This is not so good news for those that were affected by the breach. Laptop computers have always been a target for thieves, so it’s too bad they weren’t using encryption to protect this data.