So if you placed a value on 43,000 identities, what would it be? I think we could all agree that it is more than a dollar per identity, which just begs the question of whether anyone should feel safe putting something worth more than $43,000 in checked luggage? FIRST has a link to last week’s story:

Bellevue’s T-Mobile USA Inc. on Wednesday confirmed reports that a laptop computer containing the Social Security number, salary, birth date and home address for as many as 43,000 current and former employees disappeared from an employee’s checked luggage.

And even if/when the luggage is found, will there be any guarantee that the data was not copied? Hard to say there was no breach if the data was not encrypted. The best path forward is clearly encryption of the data on laptops, and never putting high-value assets in as checked luggage.