LifeLock

Las Vegas homeowners who are living in the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis have another headache to contend with after the theft of computer tapes holding information on 1,600 Pulte Homes’ customers.

Pulte Homes Las Vegas Division sent out the notification letters just in time for Christmas, though the tapes containing their customers’ names, addresses, drivers’ license numbers and financial account numbers were stolen November 13.

Pulte Homes’ employees also took a hit because all their information was also on the tapes.

All of the data breach victims have been offered Experian’s Triple Advantage credit monitoring services. (Unfortunately, credit monitoring offers very limited protection because consumers are notified after fraudulent credit accounts have been opened in their names—sort of a shout out from a rural neighbor that your cow is happily out of the barn.)

“At this time it is not know whether the box was stolen with the knowledge of its contents, of the intent, know-how and ability to extract and exploit the information stored in these backup tapes,” the letter said.

There has been no mention of whether or not the data was encrypted according to best practice standards, but Poulte spokeswoman Jacque Petroulakis said there hadn’t been identity theft reports yet.

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