Ernst & Young has reportedly lost client data containing financial data from more than 240,000 Hotels.com customers.
According to a U.K.-based Web site for software developers, The Register, an employee of the Big Four firm misplaced a laptop in early May that may have included the names, addresses and some credit or debit card information provided by customers who booked accomodations at the site between 2002 and 2004.
The U.K. site quoted a letter from Hotels.com to its customers that said thatthe laptop containing the misplaced information was in the possession of its outside auditor, Ernst & Young. The laptop was stolen from the E&Y worker's car in Texas, and did employ some basic protection mechanisms, including the need for a password.
In February, The Register reported that E&Y workers lost four laptops at a conference in Miami while they ran out for lunch. One of those computers contained information on thousands of Sun Microsystems, IBM, Cisco, BP and Nokia employees. No reports of the misuse of data from any of the companies, including Hotels.com, has surfaced.
Previously on WebCPA:
