Employee records in computer hard-drive lost: TSA

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Transportation Security Administration said on Friday that personal data on 100,000 of its employees contained in a computer hard-drive are missing.

The records include payroll information, bank accounts, birth dates and social security numbers of individuals employed by the agency from January 2002 until August 2005. The agency said it discovered they were missing on Thursday.

The data were stored on an external hard drive that has gone missing from a secure area at the TSA headquarters' personnel office.

"It is unclear at this stage whether the device is still within headquarters or was stolen," the agency said in a statement, adding that it is treating the incident as a criminal matter and has asked the FBI to investigate.

The agency said it has begun to notify directly all the affected individuals and provide them with information about how to protect against identity fraud.

TSA is part of the Homeland Security Department and its job is to protect U.S. transportation systems, including looking for bombs at checkpoints in airports.