Report: Conn. 'careless' in laptop theft

HARTFORD, Conn., Oct. 14 (UPI) -- The Connecticut Department of Revenue Service's "cavalier and careless" attitude exacerbated the theft of a laptop with sensitive data, a report says.

The state-owned computer was stolen on Long Island in New York two years ago from an employee who had traveled there for a hockey game. The laptop had the Social Security numbers of 106,000 people stored on its hard drive.

The report by the Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal faulted the state for a slow response once the theft was reported, The Hartford (Conn.) Courant said. Blumenthal said taxpayers were put at risk when the state took five days to determine critical data was stored on the laptop.

Blumenthal characterized the attitude toward critical data as "cavalier and careless."

Jason Parslow, the employee who lost the laptop, was using it to test software, Blumenthal said. He said Parslow did not need to use real data during the tests.

Connecticut has spent more than $1 million providing identity-theft protection to those whose data was on the computer. So far, none of the numbers appear to have been misused, the newspaper reported.

Parslow received a 30-day suspension.