Data Loss Source: Thieves stole three years’ worth of tax returns from Tax Service Plus, a Santa Rosa accounting firm.
Date of Loss: March 7, 2007
Size of Loss: 4,000 client records
Affected Individuals: California residents
Geographic Focus: US
Data contained: The records contained Social Security numbers, addresses, credit card information, and documents with signatures.
Additional Notes: The thieves used a sledgehammer to break through the steel back door of the tax preparer’s offices. They stole the company’s backup computer, which contained financial data on thousands of tax returns dating back three years. Tax Service Plus’ files were apparently not encrypted.
Additional Information: CBS 5

Data Loss Source: The Social Security numbers, addresses and signatures of more than 650,000 Californians have been available for purchase since 2004 — for about $6 each on a Web site operated by Secretary of State Debra Bowen’s office.
Date of Loss: March 15, 2007
Size of Loss: The site contained about 2 million records, a third of which contained individual borrowers’ information. The rest had information about business loans.
Affected Individuals: California residents
Geographic Focus: US
Data contained: The Web site had been used to post bank lending and collateral statements that were frequently purchased by financial institutions conducting loan research.The data included Social Security numbers, addresses and signatures.
Additional Notes: The Web site has been shut down. It is unclear whether the information had ever been used to perpetrate identity-theft crimes. The state’s Web site has been dubbed “potentially the longest running government Internet breach in California’s history.”
Additional Information: Associated Press

Data Loss Source: A laptop containing personal information of current and former employees of Springfield City Schools, including their names and Social Security numbers, was stolen from a state auditor employee’s vehicle (which was parked in his garage).
Date of Loss: February 22, 2007
Size of Loss: 1,950 records
Affected Individuals: Current and former employees of Springfield City Schools
Geographic Focus: US
Data contained: Access to the files was password-protected.
Additional Information: Springfield City Schools

Data Loss Source: A computer hard drive containing Social Security numbers, home addresses, birth dates and other identifying information of California National Guard troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border was stolen.
Date of Loss: February 23, 2007
Size of Loss: 1,300 records
Affected Individuals: California National Guard troops
Geographic Focus: US
Data contained: The data in the files included home addresses, birth dates and other identifying information for all soldiers serving long-term assignments on the border.
Additional Information: Examiner

Data Loss Source: A data file posted to the University of Idaho’s Web site contained personal information including names, birthdates and Social Security numbers of University employees.
Date of Loss: February 2007
Size of Loss: 2,700 employee records
Affected Individuals: University of Idaho employees
Geographic Focus: US
Data contained: The data in the file included personal information for University employees, including name, birth date, employee i.d. number and Social Security number.
Additional Notes: The University of Idaho has established a phone bank as part of its response to this incident. The phone bank can relay questions not addressed on this Web site to the university’s incident response team.
Additional Information: University of Idaho