Gap: laptop with 800,000 job seekers' data stolen

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NEW YORK, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Clothing retailer Gap Inc (GPS.N) said on Friday that a laptop computer containing personal information for about 800,000 job applicants was stolen from a vendor it used to manage that data.

An investigation is under way.

The stolen laptop contained personal information for people who applied for store positions with the company's Old Navy, Banana Republic, Gap and Outlet stores in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada between July 2006 and June 2007.

Gap said the applicants' Social Security numbers were included in the stolen information and that it is offering them a year of free credit monitoring services with fraud resolution assistance. Canadian applicants' Social Insurance Numbers were not stolen, Gap said.

The information on the laptop was not encrypted, a fact Gap said is contrary to its agreement with the vendor. But Gap added that it has no reason to believe that the data on the computer was the target of theft or that the personal information has been accessed or used improperly.

"We're reviewing the facts and circumstances that led to this incident closely, and will take appropriate steps to help prevent something like this from happening again," said Chief Executive Glenn Murphy.

The company uses more than one vendor to manage its job applicant data, so this does not affect everyone who applied during that period, the company said.

(Reporting by Martinne Geller)

((Editing by Mark Porter, Gary Hill; Reuters messaging: martinne.geller.reuters.com@reuters.net; martinne.geller@reuters.com; +1 646 223 6023)) Keywords: GAP/

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