It happened already! A few days ago I was warning you to Never Share Confidential Data in P2P Networks ! An employee's illegitimate usage of P2P networks leaked personal information on more than 17,000 current and former workers at pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.
In a letter to employees dated June 1, Pfizer privacy officer Lisa Goldman that the data was stored on a Pfizer laptop used in an employee's home.
"Due to the unauthorized installation of certain file sharing software on the laptop, files stored in the laptop containing the names, Social Security numbers, and in some instances, addresses of approximately 17,000 present and former Pfizer colleagues were exposed to one or more third parties," the letter says.
In a subsequent letter to the Attorney General of New Hampshire, Pfizer attorney Bernard Nash states that 15,700 of the employees definitely had their data accessed and copied, and another 1,250 might have lost data as well.
Pfizer did not say how it discovered the hack, nor which file sharing networks or software were involved. "Our investigation revealed that files containing names and SSN data were exposed to and, in some instances, accessed by one or more unauthorized persons over a 'peer-to-peer' network," the letter says. "[But] we were unable to determine the identity or location of those persons, or whether any particular file was opened or examined."
Pfizer did not say whether or how the employee who installed the P2P software will be disciplined. All of the company's employees have been given a free connection to a credit monitoring service.
