Computer Theft at Oakland Schools' Offices Place Employees at Risk of Identity Theft

There's nothing quite like coming into the office to find your computer has been stolen. How do I know? It happened to me a few years ago at a former job. Fortunately for the company, my computer was the only one stolen, and it contained no sensitive information like employee records or customer credit card numbers, putting no one at risk of identity theft. Unfortunately, that doesn't appear to be the case with the recent computer theft at the Oakland School District's main office.

Ten desktop computers were stolen from the second-floor Human Resources Department of the Oakland School district. They appear to be the only items stolen from the office. However, that may be more than enough to do some damage to any employees whose records were on those machines. While officials won't comment as to what information specifically was on those machines, they did confirm that there was personal information that was provided to the district when the employees were hired, which makes these employees potential identity theft victims. The employees whose information may have been compromised will be notified of the incident and their risk of identity theft.

If the thieves who took my old office computer were looking to commit identity theft, they would have been disappointed. However, with this Oakland computer theft, identity theft is very much a possibility. Whether the thieves were after the data specifically, the potential is still there, whether they take advantage of the data themselves or sell it to someone else.