IBM Corp. has lost some computer tapes that contain personal data for an undisclosed number of former employees.

There’s no sign the tapes have been accessed by anyone improperly, IBM spokesman Fred McNeese said.

All those affected were notified recently in letters from Barbara A. Brickmeier, Armonk-based vice president for human resources. A recipient shared a copy of the letter with the Poughkeepsie Journal.

“Those tapes contained primarily archival IBM employment-related information, including Social Security numbers,” Brickmeier wrote.

McNeese said the number of people notified would not be revealed “for security reasons.”

All are former employees, such as retirees, and some are also current employees who had left the company and come back later, he said.

“It wasn’t associated with any one program or anything like that,” McNeese said. But he declined to give further details about whose data was lost.

The storage tapes are not the type that could be put into a personal computer, McNeese said. But he declined to say what kind of system or type of tapes were involved, again, citing security reasons.

Asked if the tapes were encrypted, he said, “There were different levels of protection on various tapes that were lost.”

The loss occurred Feb. 23 south of IBM’s headquarters in Armonk near the intersection of Interstates 684 and 287, McNeese said. A vendor, who isn’t being named, lost the tapes while transporting them.

“We’ve concluded that the tape loss was inadvertent. We’ve got no indication that the data on the tapes has been accessed or used improperly.” The search continues, he said.

All those notified have been given an opportunity to use an identity theft protection service from Kroll Inc., a national security firm, at no cost for a year, the letter said.

Levi Horton, a Fishkill man who retired from IBM in 1991, said he had not received a letter, but has heard “a lot of talk about identity theft” and has grown cautious.

“I do not give up my Social Security” number, he said.

Reach Craig Wolf at
cwolf@poughkeepsiejournal.com
or 845-437-4815

Post a Comment   View All Comments I would say that it's pretty unlikely. It's much more likely that it's one of the standard carriers such as Fed Ex, UPS or Iron Mountain. And the whole "fire everyone" stance seems a little extreme. If it was Fed Ex do you think every employee who has ever sent anything via Fed Ex should be fired? This would not be the first time one of these companies has lost data. Iron Mountain lost Time Warner tapes and UPS lost Citibank tapes. Stuff happens - tapes get lost, laptops get stolen. The tapes should have been encrypted, and IBM's reply seems to be a bit spotty on how well they were protected. Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 12:06 am smitty, i did read the article before I commented and again after your post. "The loss occurred Feb. 23 south of IBM’s headquarters in Armonk near the intersection of Interstates 684 and 287, McNeese said. A vendor, who isn’t being named, lost the tapes while transporting them." - from the pkj the quote still doesn't confirm the name of transporter or the company of origin. while I was merely asking/offering if it could've been an offshore company - it still could be a vendor from a foreign company. remember the company name hasn't been provided. for all we know it could've been a foreign vendor in the act of transporting the tapes back to the office in a third world country, nyc or any other city. so it's still anyone's guess which company it is and where they're from. the courier might've left the box on the roof of the car and took off down the interstate. they're not even saying how they were lost. this won't be the first time ibm has used questionable characters for work in sensitive areas (e.g., work release, drug users, etc. Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:59 pm Did you read the article? Physical tapes were lost during transport near IBM headquarters in Armonk. This has nothing to do with outsourcing. Not that I disagree with you about outsourcing, I just wanted to clarify that it's not applicable here. Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 7:43 pm the article leaves one wondering which incompetent company was responsible for losing the records and how many records were lost. was it an offshore, foreign company like is used for the tech lines of many american companies and the nys food stamp program? the company responsible and the number of names as well as all aspects of the case should be made public. u.s. citizens are so dumbed down now they probably don't even care. this fiasco is a tip of the iceberg as far as contracting many jobs offshore for the purpose of increasing profits, stock market profits of companies that are reaping huge profits at the detriment of u.s. citizens is not a good company in my opinion and should be considered traitors of the usa. ibm should make a full disclosure to all employees and all citizens and then fire the company and those mgrs. from ibm who were resposnsible for this particular program. Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 5:49 pm Kind of odd that vassar hospital had something happen like this now IBM? Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:14 am Post a Comment   View All Comments