Customer Data Lost, Citigroup Unit Says By Jonathan Krim

A unit of financial services giant Citigroup Inc. said yesterday that a box of computer tapes with account information for 3.9 million customers had been lost in shipment, exposing a vast new swath of Americans to the increased possibility of identity theft.

The announcement from CitiFinancial, a subsidiary that provides personal and home equity loans, pushes to more than 6 million the number of U.S. consumers whose personal data have been lost or stolen in just the past six months. The spate of breaches has included federal agencies, universities, banks and other financial institutions, data brokers and data-storage companies. …

Last month, a data storage company lost information on 600,000 current and former employees of Time Warner Inc. In February, Bank of America Corp. reported it had lost tapes containing data on 1.2 million federal employees, including some U.S. senators.

The breaches have thrown a spotlight on the active marketplace for personal data and prompted calls for congressional action to impose limits such as restricting the availability of Social Security numbers.