Money Matters, Simplified.
BP loses personal data of oil spill claimants
by Cooshalle Wilson - March 30, 2011 - comments
The oil giant BP has sent letters to people whose data was stored on the stolen laptop, notifying them about the potential data security breach.
Just when things could not get any worse for BP, they actually have. Barely had the company recovered from the international outburst over its April 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, it is again in the news for all the wrong reasons.
On March 1, an employee of oil giant BP lost a laptop with personal information from Mexico residents who had filed damage claims in the wake of last year's massive Deepwater Horizon offshore platform spill.
Damage control
The company claims the laptop was lost during "routine business travel" and cannot release any information on where or when, or by whom, the laptop computer was lost, to prevent the investigation from being jeopardized.
BP spokesman Curtis Thomas said, "We're committed to the people of the Gulf Coast states affected by the Deepwater Horizon accident and spill, and we deeply regret that this occurred."
He further pointed out that the oil giant had mailed out letters to roughly 13,000 people whose data was stored on the computer, notifying them about the potential data security breach and offering to pay for their credit to be monitored.
The company also reported the missing laptop to law enforcement.
Magnitude of the loss
The data lost was of people who filed claims before last August, when the Gulf Coast Claims Facility took over. BP paid roughly $400 million in claims before the switch.
The stolen data included a spreadsheet of claimants' names, Social Security numbers, phone numbers, and addresses.
"There is no evidence that the laptop or data was targeted or that anyone's personal data has in fact been compromised or accessed in any way," BP spokesman Tom Mueller said in a written statement.
"We have sent written notice to individuals impacted by this event to inform them about the loss of their personal data and to offer them free credit monitoring services to help protect their personal information."
The good news, however, is that no one will have to resubmit a claim because of the lost data. "If it was stolen, we think it was a crime of opportunity, but it was initially lost," Thomas said.
On being asked why nearly a month elapsed before BP notified residents about the missing laptop, Thomas said, "We were doing our due diligence and investigating."
BP on its part has sent out notices and apologized, saying that it takes the protection of personal information “very seriously.”