MASSACHUSETTS AMERIPRISE REACHES SETTLEMENT WITH MASSACHUSETTS STATE REGULATORS REGARDING STOLEN COMPUTER Business Ticker - The Boston Globe:

Monday, December 11, 2006
Ameriprise Reaches Settlement With Mass. Regulators

In what may be the first regulatory action against a company for losing sensitive customer data, Massachusetts' securities regulators reached a settlement of understanding with Ameriprise Financial Inc., over the company's loss of a laptop computer last year.

Under an agreement with regulators in the office of Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin, Ameriprise agreed to hire an independent consultant within 60 days to review its policies and procedures for employees' and contractors' use of laptop computers that contain personal or financial information of Ameriprise customers.

Galvin's office is also investigating Fidelity Investments, said a person familiar with the matter. In March, a Fidelity employee left a laptop containing personal information on thousands of current and former Hewlett-Packard Co. workers in a rented car while eating dinner at a Chinese restaurant in California. The laptop was stolen. Fidelity reported the loss to customers."

Ameriprise, a financial planning company in Minneapolis, is one of a number of companies, including Fidelity, Verizon Communications Inc., and Boeing Co. that have lost sensitive information contained on laptops. Ameriprise disclosed in January that it had notified more than 200,000 people that their names and other personal data were stored on a laptop that was stolen from an employee's car on Christmas eve of 2005. Massachusetts regulators took action because the laptop contained the personal and financial information of thousands of Massachusetts residents.

Ameriprise didn't admit to any wrongdoing or liability under the settlement, but agreed to hire a consultant that will look in particular at laptop-computer policies and procedures for employees and contractors who work out of home offices. The consultant will also look at laptop-computer security at Massachusetts branch offices. Under the settlement, the consultant, if necessary, will make recommendations for corrective action. Ameriprise also agreed to pay Galvin's office $25,000 for the cost of the investigation.

The regulatory action over a lost laptop computer is unusual. Experts say unprotected laptop computers are often a weak-link in companies' information security systems. Until now, the laptop-computer losses have primarily been the problem of customers, who are typically told to monitor their credit for a certain period of time.

Spokespeople for Fidelity and Ameriprise weren't immediately available for comment. (Dow Jones)