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Department of Transportation laptop stolen

A U.S. government computer loaded with approximately 133,000 drivers' and pilots' records — including Social Security numbers — was stolen last month, the Department of Transportation said Wednesday.
/ Source: Reuters

A U.S. government computer loaded with approximately 133,000 drivers' and pilots' records — including Social Security numbers — was stolen last month, the Department of Transportation said Wednesday.

The department's Office of Inspector General said one of its laptops was taken from a government vehicle in Doral, Florida, on July 27. The agency is sending letters to those whose information may have been compromised.

The theft follows the revelation this week that a computer with up to 38,000 veterans' records was missing from the office of a subcontractor working for the Department of Veterans Affairs, the second computer to disappear from that agency this year.

The stolen Transportation Department computer included information from more than 80,000 commercial driver's licenses issued in the Miami-Dade County area. The data included drivers' names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth, the agency said.

The laptop also had 42,800 records for people issued pilot licenses in Florida by the Federal Aviation Administration, and 9,500 Tampa area drivers' licenses, the department said. Those records also included names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth.

"The laptop is password protected, and it is unlikely that the perpetrators stole it based on any knowledge of its data contents," the inspector general's office said in a letter to those affected.

The information on licenses had been collected as part of investigations into possible fraud, according to the letter. A $10,000 reward has been posted for information leading to the recovery of the laptop, the inspector general said.

In May, a Veterans Affairs Department laptop containing sensitive information on more than 26 million veterans and service members was stolen. It was recovered in June and officials said they did not believe information was taken.