Somebody explain to me why all this identity theft is happening? And why are these people driving around with the laptops in their cars, and leaving them in clear view where they’d be stolen? And if they’re going to let people drive around with them, why isn’t the data encrypted? Makes no sense……..

A laptop with personal information on hundreds of thousands of Boeing Co. employees was stolen earlier this month, and the aerospace company will inform those potentially affected by the theft in a company e-mail today.

“In the first week of December, a laptop was stolen from an employee’s car,” Boeing spokeswoman Kelly Danaghy said. “That laptop had files that contained Social Security numbers for about 382,000 past and present employees, and in most cases it also included a home address, phone number and date of birth.”

There was no reason to believe that any of the stolen information has been used illegally, she said.

It was unclear Tuesday whether the data was encrypted. No banking or credit card information was stored in those files, but the company will provide free three-year credit monitoring for employees whose personal information was compromised.

The company employs about 156,000 people, with 68,000 of those employed in Washington state.

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