First, a question: If you had an exotic automobile parked in your garage, would you leave the keys in the ignition and assume no one would be able to steal it?

Indianapolis-based Central Collection Bureau decided to trust door locks over common sense and had its main computer server stolen from its facility. After the overnight escapade, the vital info of 700,000 people now belongs to the thieves.

It could happen to any company, right? Sure, it could, but CCB’s setup was asking for trouble. The real problem is the server was entirely unencrypted — the sensitive info was stored behind three locked doors and protected by only two basic passwords. But once thieves got through those low-level security measures, they had full access to the info.

The hijacked server contained names, Social Security numbers, addresses, dates of service and amounts owed by 700,000 customers from about 100 Indiana businesses.

As damaging as the theft was for Central Collection Bureau, the info leak has impacted other Indiana companies. One company lost past-due billing statements for 51,000 former customers and has no way of notifying them because all their information was lost.

It’s a wake-up call for many businesses: Computer breaches, whether physical or electronic, are becoming more rampant. And for many, protecting company systems isn’t the only concern — if a system is hit, it can ripple out to every other business or customer that a company deals with.

Your best bet: Check with IT to make sure all sensitive material — whether it’s stored electronically or physically on-premises — is encrypted whenever possible.

Tags: Collection, Credit info, Data protection, Encryption