Another day, another data breach, as the firm Multi-Color Global Label Solutions suffers a break-in through a third party affiliate. Notably, this breach wasn’t done through hacking or cyber theft, but rather started with physical theft of property.

Earlier this year, a law firm that represents Multi-Color was broken into. Among the stolen items was a hard drive, containing Multi-Color’s data, and the password to the hard drive. SC Magazine notes that should the hard drive be recovered, it will be possible to tell if the information was accessed.

In said hard drive, the thief could find the Human Resource records and information for all of the firm’s employees; this includes names, social security numbers, and even information on their dependents. Even former employees, those who worked at Multi-Color’s predecessor company, and a few applicants have also been affected by this theft.

Of course, whether or not the information will be used depends on the criminal, who may not have been looking to steal that specific information. While a hack is very specific and intentional, the thief could have just been after expensive hardware to steal, but the data could still be misused.

In response, Multi-Color and the law firm are working together to investigate the incident, along with the proper authority figures. An outside firm is also watching out for any uses of the stolen data.

Multi-Color has also sent out a notice of security incident, informing employees of the threat. It offers an information sheet with information about credit protection, and advises employees to order a credit report and register for Identity Protection and Credit Monitoring Services; Multi-Color is offering Experian ProtectMyID Elite services for a year at no cost.

Photo by elhombredenegro