Personal Data Tape Missing -- J.C. Penney, Other Retailers Compromised

Jan 18, 04:43 PM

GE Money, which handles credit card operations for Penney and many other retailers, said Thursday night that the missing information includes Social Security numbers for about 150,000 people.

The information was on a backup computer tape that was discovered missing last October. It was being stored at a warehouse run by Iron Mountain Inc., a data storage company, and was never checked out but can't be found either, said Richard Jones, a spokesman for GE Money, part of General Electric Capital Corp.

Jones said there was "no indication of theft or anything of that sort," and no evidence of fraudulent activity on the accounts involved.

Iron Mountain officials didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Penney said it had been told of the situation and referred further inquiries to GE Money.

Jones declined to identify the other retailers whose customers' information is missing but said "it includes many of the large retail organizations."

Jones said GE Money was paying for 12 months of credit- monitoring service for customers whose Social Security numbers were on the tape.

Incidents like this add to consumer concern about fraud. The Identity Theft Resource Center says there was a six-fold increase last year in the number of records reported compromised in the United States - to 125 million.

Data breaches can stem from hacking, as well as the physical loss or theft of computers of data storage equipment.

Originally published by Associated Press .

(c) 2008 Commercial Appeal, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved. Personal Data Tape Missing -- J.C. Penney, Other Retailers Compromised
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