Laptop held info on 800,000 Gap applicants

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Gap Inc. is offering a year of free credit monitoring and assistance to 800,000 job applicants whose social security numbers were in a stolen computer.

The retailer Friday reported a laptop computer containing the applicants' unencrypted personal information was stolen from the offices of a third-party vendor, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The stolen data covered applicants in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico who applied online or by telephone between July 2006 and June 2007 for jobs at Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic and Outlet stores, the Chronicle reported Saturday.

As required by California law, San Francisco-based Gap is notifying each person their Social Security number was stolen.

"What happened here is against everything we stand for as a company," Gap Chairman Glenn Murphy said in a statement.