Data for 650,000 Customers Vanishes into Thin Air

Did the personal data of more than 650,000 customers of J.C. Penney and other retailers disappear? A new report says the company hired by the retailers to safeguard the data has lost the backup tape, putting the information at risk.

In an article on the Register website, Dan Goodin says GE Money, the company entrusted with the information, had the data – including social security information for 150,000 people – on a backup tape that was discovered missing back in October from a warehouse maintained by storage company Iron Mountain. While there is no indication the tape was stolen, company officials have been unable to locate it.

“In a twist of irony, the revelation of the missing information coincided with the debut of a mini documentary on cyber crime in which the chairman and CEO of J.C. Penney, Mike Ullman, speaks about the growing risk posed by online thieves,” Goodin says.

The disclosure comes a year after TJX Cos., owner of the T.J. Maxx and Marshalls retail chains, suffered a server breach that exposed personal information for as many as 100 million people.

Goodin says GE Money has offered to pay for 12 months of credit monitoring for anyone whose social security number was lost.