U.S. Commerce Dept. has lost 1,137 laptops since '01

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U.S. Commerce Dept. has lost 1,137 laptops since '01

The U.S. Commerce Department reported that 1,137 laptops have been lost or stolen since 2001, with 249 of them containing some degree of personal data. The department couldn't determine whose data may have been on the machines, of which 672 belonged to the U.S. Census Bureau. It isn't aware of any data having been used improperly, it said Thursday.

The findings are from a Commerce Department review covering 15 agencies that use a total of 30,000 laptops. It comes as businesses and governments try to tighten their control over mobile devices after several high-profile incidents concerning the loss of sensitive data.

The Census Bureau's laptops -- used for collecting census data in the field -- rarely contain data on more than 100 households, and the data can't be accessed by the surveyors, many of whom are temporary, hourly employees, the department said. U.S. Commerce Dept. has lost 1,137 laptops since '01 Linked by LT Hacker