From: InfoSec News (alertsinfosecnews.org)
Date: Wed Apr 25 2007 - 04:45:23 CDT

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http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/04/25/business/news/42_55_364_24_07.txt

By David Koenig
Associated Press
April 24, 2007

DALLAS -- A computer stolen from a Neiman Marcus consultant contained
personal information on nearly 160,000 current and former employees, the
luxury retailer said Tuesday.

The company said there was no indication yet that the thieves had tapped
into the personal information, which included individuals' names,
addresses, Social Security numbers, birth dates and salaries.

The stolen notebook computer belonged to a pension-benefits consultant
hired by Neiman Marcus. It was taken April 5 from a technician hired by
the consultant, according to a Neiman Marcus spokeswoman.

Ginger Reeder, the spokeswoman, said Neiman Marcus was told about the
theft April 10 but was asked by police not to release information about
the theft until this week while the case was investigated. She declined
to say where the theft occurred, other than that it wasn't in Dallas.

Reeder said other items were taken, leading the company to believe that
the thieves weren't after information about the Neiman Marcus employees.

Neiman Marcus declined to identify the consultant. Reeder said it was
not the company's regular pension benefits administrator, Fidelity
Investments.

Neiman Marcus hired the consultant several years ago to maintain
information on pension plan participants and has had no previous
problems, Reeder said.

The stolen computer contained detailed personal information on employees
and former employees who were in the pension plan as of Aug. 30, 2005.
Employees hired since then are not affected, the company said.

The employees work or worked for Neiman Marcus Stores, Neiman Marcus
Direct, Bergdorf Goodman, Horchow, Horchow Finale, Last Call, Chefs
Catalog, and Contempo Casuals. People getting a Neiman Marcus Group
pension as of mid-2005 also had their information on the stolen
computer.

Neiman Marcus Group has close to 17,000 current employees.

The Dallas-based retailer said it hired credit-reporting agency Equifax
to provide credit protection for at least a year to all the people whose
information was stolen.

In a letter to the affected employees, Chairman and Chief Executive Burt
Tansky said Neiman Marcus was reviewing the theft and considering what
steps it might take to improve security of information handled by
outside parties.

"We will do everything we can to prevent a recurrence," Tansky wrote to
employees.

(c) 1997-2007 North County Times

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