Time Warner Loses Personal Data on Thousands of Employees

On Monday, Time Warner announced that one of the containers holding its computer back-up tapes went missing during transport by an outside data storage firm. The tapes are reported to hold personal information on hundreds of thousands of Time Warner employees, both current employees and prior employees. Time Warner said the tapes don't include data on the company's customers.

Time Warner said the data storage firm was lost by the company when it was being shipped to a storage facility. Time Warner has used the firm for several years.

According to Time Warner, the U.S. Secret Service has been enlisted to investigate the loss. That investigation has yet to turn up evidence that the data has been accessed or used.

Time Warner has begun notifying those persons whose data would have been on the tapes, and is recommending those employees keep a close eye on the credit reports

"We take the security of our employees' personal information extremely seriously and we deeply regret that this incident occurred,' said Larry Cockell, Time Warner's Senior Vice President and Chief Security Officer, in a statement on Time Warner's website. "While we have no evidence to suggest the information on the tapes has been accessed or misused, we are providing current and former employees with resources to monitor their credit reports while our investigation continues. We are working closely and aggressively with law enforcement and the outside data storage firm to get to the bottom of this matter."