Missing BP laptop had personal data of claimants
NEW ORLEANS, LA
BP spokesman Curtis Thomas said the oil giant on Monday mailed
out letters to roughly 13,000 people whose data was stored on the
computer, notifying them about the potential data security breach
and offering to pay for their credit to be monitored. The company
also reported the missing laptop to law enforcement, he said.
The laptop was password-protected, but the information was not
encrypted, Thomas said.
The data included a spreadsheet of claimants' names, Social
Security numbers, phone numbers and addresses. But Thomas said the
company doesn't have any evidence that claimants' personal
information has been misused.
"We're committed to the people of the Gulf Coast states
affected by the Deepwater Horizon accident and spill, and we deeply
regret that this occurred," he said.
The data belonged to individuals who filed claims with BP before
the Gulf Coast Claims Facility took over the processing of claims
in August. BP paid roughly $400 million in claims before the
switch. As of Tuesday, the GCCF had paid roughly $3.6 billion to
172,539 claimants.
Thomas said no one will have to resubmit a claim because of the
lost data.
The employee lost the laptop on March 1 during "routine
business travel," said Thomas, who declined to elaborate on the
circumstances.
"If it was stolen, we think it was a crime of opportunity, but
it was initially lost," Thomas said.
BP is offering to pay for claimants to have their credit
monitored by Equifax, an Atlanta-based credit bureau.
Asked why nearly a month elapsed before BP notified residents
about the missing laptop, Thomas said, "We were doing our due
diligence and investigating."
Matt O'Brien, part owner of Tiger Pass Seafood, a shrimp dock in
Venice, La., said he had filed a claim with BP before the GCCF took
over processing claims in August. A call from an AP reporter on
Tuesday was the first he had heard that his personal information
may have been among the data compromised.
"That's like it's par for the course for them," O'Brien said
of BP. "They can't seem to do nothing right."
Beau Weber, a fishing guide in Lafitte, La., also had filed a
claim with BP prior to Aug. 23, and he had even received several
monthly payments from BP. He said he hadn't received a letter from
BP about the missing laptop.
"It's terrible," he said of the breach. "I kinda work hard
for the things I have. I wouldn't want somebody with a computer to
be able to take it from me. It's very disturbing. It's like another
gallon of gas thrown on the fire."