Off-Site backups are a must in todays world, now perhaps some people will rethink about what and how they send data off site… I love the final statement, the data is compressed and couldn’t be accessed without special equipment. My reading of it says read the first few bytes on the tape and you’ll know what software was used to create the backup and most anyone can take a look at the tape and determine what kind of drive is needed to read it. The one word missing from the companies statements is ENCRYPTION! I hope it was intentionally left out of the press release.
Sounds like they need to look into a new off site storage company too…
This is what is known in the IT world as a CLE… a Career Limiting Event.
Ameritrade Loses 200,000 Client Files
Omaha, Neb. — If you used Ameritrade to buy stocks online between 2000 and 2003, your personal information may be at risk.
The leading online discount broker said Wednesday that a third-party vendor lost a backup computer tape containing the personal information of about 200,000 current and former customers.
A company spokeswoman said the data was different for each client and may have included their Social Security numbers, among other information.
The company said it has begun notifying people of the loss.
The spokeswoman said Ameritrade hasn’t heard of any of the information being misused.
She said the company was “very confident” that “no harm has been done to any clients, to their accounts, to their information.”
The spokeswoman also said the tapes weren’t marked and the compressed data couldn’t be accessed without special equipment.
