Secret Service closes investigation of missing tapes

CSO - The U.S. Secret Service has closed three high-profile investigations involving backup tapes from Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Time Warner Inc. that were reported lost in transit to storage facilities in 2005.

The tapes contained personal data on hundreds of thousands of consumers. "The tapes were never found," said Dale Pupillo, deputy special agent in charge of the Secret Service's criminal investigative division. "Although we can't prove what happened, we suspect that the tapes were lost or disposed of in the normal course of transportation. They were damaged or discarded. We don't suspect anyone of having deliberately stolen the tapes."

In another recent case of lost computer media, ABN Amro Mortgage Group Inc. said in December that DHL shipping facility staff had recovered a computer tape (and its data on roughly 2 million customers) nearly a month after it went missing (see "ABN Amro Unit Reveals Electronic Data-Transfer Plan After Tape Snafu").

The rash of tapes that have gone missing have spurred businesses and the federal government to strengthen their security procedures.

Iron Mountain Inc., the records storage and management company whose courier truck lost Time Warner backup tapes, has announced that it now offers customers an "extended level of protection for high-value tapes" that includes special processing instructions for an additional fee. The company is promoting services for digital archiving, electronic vaulting and remote backup business, a small but growing service that makes up about 5% of its business.

Congress is also looking at several bills to protect personal data, including one requiring companies to notify police, consumers and credit card issuers of a breach. The Secret Service, meanwhile, is using its Electronic Crimes Task Force meetings to offer guidance, Pupillo said.