July 12th 2006

The University of Iowa announced that students in its MBA program should take precautions after a laptop computer containing personal information was stolen.

Officials sent letters to 280 students in the program after the laptop was stolen on June 30th from a faculty member’s business office in Davenport.

It contained names, Social Security numbers and some contact information for 280 current an former students since 2002.

Officials say they know how many students to notify because it was a new laptop and the owner had made a back-up of the data.

But UI officials said they believe it is unlikely the thief sought the computer for its data.

“[Law-enforcement officials] have no reason, at this point, to believe the computer’s theft was motivated by the information it contains,” said Gary Gaeth, associate dean of the business school. “And there is no evidence of data misuse.