Aon Investigating Alcatel-Lucent Lost Disk

Aon said it is investigating circumstances surrounding a missing computer disk with the names and personal information of about 200,000 individuals working for Alcatel-Lucent.

On Thursday, Alcatel-Lucent, a Paris-based communications company, said it sent an e-mail informing its employees that between April 5 and May 3 a disk containing the name, address, Social Security number, date of birth and salary data of past and current employees was either lost or stolen.

The company was notified on May 7 of the missing disk, and made the loss public Thursday.

Alcatel-Lucent said the disk was prepared by Hewitt Associates, a human resource and consulting firm based in Lincolnshire, Ill., and sent by Hewitt to Chicago-based Aon Corp.

In a statement Aon said, “Earlier this month, a CD-Rom disc containing [the personnel] information–part of an ongoing consulting assignment–was reported missing. To date, the circumstances relating to how and when the disc was lost are unknown.

“Aon is currently participating in an ongoing investigation with our client and other parties into the circumstances of this incident. It is important to clarify that neither Aon nor any of the other parties with whom we are collaborating on this investigation have reached definitive conclusions about these circumstances.”

A spokesman said the company is making no additional comments on the investigation. He indicated the firm is backing away from earlier reports that it never received the disk while the investigation continues.

In addition to brokerage services, Aon operates consulting services and underwriting under the Combined Insurance Company.

Alcatel-Lucent said it will provide the affected employees a full year of credit monitoring services for free. It emphasized that there is no evidence any of the information has been used.

The employees were informed by e-mail and letters were going out to all current and retired employees.

“We recognize that we have a responsibility to carefully protect this type of information and deeply regret this loss,” said Frank D'Amelio, chief administrative officer for Alcatel-Lucent. He added the company is making sure a loss like this does not happen again.