NEW YORK, Aug. 5 /EMWNews/ -- Verified Identity Pass, Inc. today

confirmed that it recovered the laptop from its office at the San Francisco

Airport that it had reported missing to authorities and the Transportation

Security Administration. Moreover, Verified Identity Pass has determined

from a preliminary investigation that the laptop was not accessed from the

time it went missing in the office until the time it was found. Further

forensic investigation is being conducted by law enforcement officials.



    "We apologize for the confusion but in an abundance of caution, we

treated this unaccounted-for laptop as a serious potential breach. We're

glad to confirm that a preliminary investigation shows no personal

information was compromised," said Verified Identity Pass CEO Steven Brill.

Verified Identity Pass had earlier reported that it was in the process of

notifying 33,000 people -- most of whom had signed up online but not yet

completed their in-person enrollments, plus a small portion of members who

were in the process of having to re-enroll because there had been trouble

collecting their biometrics -- that a laptop containing a limited portion

of the personally identifiable information that they submit to begin an

application was stolen from a locked office at the San Francisco Airport.

That notification will now include the finding that the laptop has been

found and that no one attempted to access that information, let alone

obtained it.



    Verified Identity Pass had also announced that it was suspending

enrollment processes temporarily until this information was encrypted for

further protection. All airport lane operations have continued as normal.

The information on the laptop had already been secured by two levels of

password protection. Verified Identity Pass, Inc. is in the process of

completing that software fix -- and other laptop security enhancements --

to encrypt the data. Verified now expects that the fix will be in place

within days.



    The data in question on the laptop included a limited amount of the

online applicant's personal information, but did not include any credit

information, including credit card numbers. And it did not include the

applicant's Social Security number. It also did not include any biometric

information, such as the applicant's encrypted fingerprint images or

encrypted iris images (which are supplied during the second, in-person

enrollment process that takes place at the airport).