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100,000 Students' Details Stolen in Laptop Theft

Posted by dbfriends on 29 March 2005 - 10:31 · 19 comments & 4909 views

The personal details of almost 100,000 University of California students have been stolen - and it's all because one laptop was taken from one of the college's campuses. AP reports that the theft actually took place on March 11, but officials had waited until now to release details in the hope that the thief might be caught. That hasn't happened, raising fears of identity theft.

The laptop was stolen from UC Berkeley, wihch now plans to tell all the people affected - some 98,369, including current alumni, past applicants and graduate students - to check credit reports. However, the university's Maria Felde said there was no indication any of the data had been used illegally.

"The campus really regrets this happened and is taking steps to strengthen security in the future," Felde told AP. The university has set up a hotline on 1-800-372-5110, as well as a website to answer questions about the theft. It says: "At this time the campus has no evidence that personal data were actually retrieved or misused. However, in accordance with state law, UC Berkeley officials are making every reasonable effort to notify by mail and e-mail all 98,369 individuals whose names and Social Security numbers were on the computer and, as a precaution, suggest they consider placing a fraud alert on their credit reporting accounts."

View: AP Coverage

View: UC Berkeley homepage | Laptop warning

This second generation of Cinema Displays comes in three sizes (20-Inch, 23-Inch, and the 30-Inch model), and have extra features like dual Firewire & dual USB 2.0 ports. As you might expect, like everything else made by Apple, Cinema Displays aren’t the cheapest thing on the market ($1,299 and up). With Apple’s reputation as a quality vendor, one might reasonably expect a decent deal. Especially when you spend over $1,000 dollars, you’d expect to get an honest and fair warranty. However, with this new generation of Cinema Displays, Apple only offers a 1-year manufacturer warranty. Has Apple screwed over it’s so called valuable customers with a warranty best fitting a Gateway product?! We think so. If one was so inclined, one can purchase an extended warranty for around $199, giving you a 3-year extended warranty. But there’s a catch. In order to get the extended warranty, you must purchase either a PowerMac or PowerBook along side of your $1,299+ LCD; unless you're planning on doing just this, you'll be up a creek without the proverbial paddle.

So come on guys, we hear you cry. Be reasonable. How is this a major issue? Well, consumers shouldn’t have to spend an extra $1,200 just to get an extended warranty on a product that so far hasn't had the smoothest sailing. It becomes even more of a problem considering the other, more visible, problems.

Our second concern is the growing number of faulty Cinema Displays. Website’s across the internet have been reporting on Cinema Displays that show either a strong pink or fairly visible yellow hue. Clearly, this isn't the first time that the "pink hue" symptoms have occurred - they first occurred in Apple's PowerBook G3 link (click here). This problem had previously been noticed by graphic professionals, but the more serious pink/yellow hues can be seen by your average computer user. Apple has yet to make an official statement regarding this problem, but has replaced all Cinema Displays that are experiencing this problem. More worryingly, the company has been reported as deleting support threads on their site (click here, DreamLight.com is currently down please click here to view a cached version of the site). This, however, obviously isn't a long term fix. According to DreamLight, the pink/yellow hue comes back after only a few weeks of normal usage. DreamLight suggest from user reports that these problems could be due to unnecessary stress on the LCD.

Of course, this may not be Apple’s fault, but the LCD manufacturer LG. LG produces a wide variety of products ranging from LCD TV's, Cameras, DVD Players - even Refrigerator's. Still, in the PC world, LG products are often suggested to be anything but high quality with less than average performance. Back in 1999, Apple invested $100 million dollars into Samsung to help Samsung produce a large quantity of LCDs for Apples iBooks, PowerBooks, and Cinema Displays. As such, it’s anyone’s guess why Apple switched from Samsung to LG. Even though Apple doesn’t manufacture the LCDs, Apple has a responsibility to its customers. That responsibility is to offer a fair and honest warranty. Switching back doesn’t sound like too bad idea.

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#1 Posted by Neobond on 29 Mar 2005 - 10:34: This makes citrix metaframe look like a viable alternative for preventing data theft!

(2 replies) #2 Posted by Elite_graphix on 29 Mar 2005 - 10:35: hopefully its was passworded document.

(1 reply) #3 Posted by Jerichohol on 29 Mar 2005 - 10:41: Why was this document on a Laptop?

#4 Posted by Ficman on 29 Mar 2005 - 10:41: I think I'd be just a LITTLE upset if I were in there...

(1 reply) #5 Posted by PayneX on 29 Mar 2005 - 10:47: "Stolen"?...or exchanged for goods/services?

How much is 100k identities worth?

#6 Posted by Ianmac45 on 29 Mar 2005 - 10:56: a lot

#7 Posted by [idkfa] on 29 Mar 2005 - 11:11: Why the hell does someone have so much important data on his laptop?

#8 Posted by Zilos on 29 Mar 2005 - 11:16: wtf? great idea. Put **** loads of important information onto the most easily stealable computer.. a bloody laptop.

#9 Posted by Gowcra on 29 Mar 2005 - 11:33: Hehe, is any here actully had this happen to them, LOL!

#10 Posted by krono6 on 29 Mar 2005 - 11:50: "Daddy Daddy, I want to be a Hacker"
"Then take this Laptop I found on EEEEEEBAAAAAAAYY!!"
Oh come on, you KNOW its going to end up there sooner or later.....I'm aaaaalready prepared *Gets out Wallet*

#11 Posted by ThunderRiver on 29 Mar 2005 - 14:06: Why would they take personal student data on the go in a laptop to begin with?

#12 Posted by m0rpheen on 29 Mar 2005 - 14:50: I feel a lawsuit coming up from 100,000 disgruntled students

(1 reply) #13 Posted by Lucida on 29 Mar 2005 - 16:30: why don't they just regularly back up, may be a bit tedious every now and then but if it backs up data and a laptop is stolen then you've always got a spare copy...major documents should be protected by a strong alphanumeric password...

#14 Posted by stanneh on 29 Mar 2005 - 21:10: that thing got formatted and had a fresh install of a hacked winxp before anyone who knew what that data could be usefull for got a chance to use it i guarantee =]

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