More data security tapes hacked

Time Warner employee data missing

Tapes with information on 600,000 current, ex-workers lost in transit by outside data storage firm.

May 2, 2005: 1:58 PM EDT (source money.cnn.com)

NEW YORK (CNN) - Time Warner Inc. said Monday that data on 600,000 current and former employees stored on computer backup tapes was lost by an outside storage company and that the Secret Service is now investigating.

Kathy McKiernan, a spokeswoman for Time Warner, told CNN that the tapes contained names and Social Security information on current and former Time Warner employees and some of their dependents and beneficiaries dating back to 1986.

The tapes may include information on employees of Time Warner and any of its affiliated companies between 1986 and the present. Time Warner is the parent company of CNN/Money.

"Time Warner retains that information to administer retirement, compensation and other benefits information for its employees," McKiernan told CNN. She would not say what other information was on the 40 tapes that were lost with the missing container, citing the integrity of the ongoing investigation.

Time Warner said the tapes did not include personal data on its customers. McKiernan said that the Secret Service is involved in an active investigation of the matter, working closely with the company and Iron Mountain Inc., the data storage firm that lost the tapes.