BP has reportedly lost a laptop containing the personal information of approximately 13,000 people who filed claims against the company following the oil spill disaster last year. The laptop allegedly went missing on March 1, but the loss did not become public until this week, when the company began mailing out letters to individuals whose information was stored on the computer.
Tom Mueller, a spokesperson for the company, confirmed they had written to “individuals impacted by this event to inform them about the loss of their personal data and to offer them free credit monitoring services to help protect their personal information.”
BP refused to comment about the employee who lost the laptop. The data on the laptop contained a spreadsheet with the names, addresses, Social Security numbers, phone numbers and the dates of birth of claimants, which was unencrypted even though the laptop itself is protected by a password.
The data on the laptop concerned claimants against the company after one of its oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, sending millions of barrels of oil into the ocean.
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