The Wall Street Journal reports that up to 74,000 of former and current Coca-Cola employees’ personal information could be compromised due to a recent Atlanta headquarter theft.

An employee, who was promptly fired, was assigned to dispose of the laptops but instead attempted to steal them late last year. The laptops were once assigned to human resources staff, and held social security numbers, credit card numbers, drivers license numbers and other personal information.

Although Coca-Cola was notified of the information on the laptops on the tenth of December last year, it only began to inform employees on Friday. Coca-Cola explained the wait on needing to investigate the content on the laptop, and if any of the information was misused. Coca-Cola released in a statement that the company “brought in extra crews that worked long hours, including throughout the holiday period and on weekends, to sort through the data” in order to give precise information to the employees as well as the public in their official statement.

Coca-Cola has concluded that no information has been used for malicious purposes, and that they notified employees affected within the legal time period.

The breach affects not only Atlanta Coca-Cola employees, but all North American employees of the largest beverage company in the world. The company sold its first bottle of Coke in Atlanta on May 8, 1886, and has played a major part in the city’s economy since.

No arrests have been made in regards to the attempted theft, along with no explanation as to why the laptops were discarded before the information on them were not encrypted. Much information is being withheld at the time due to the ongoing law enforcement investigation. If you feel that you may be affected by this incident, look for correspondence from Coca-Cola this week, or contact the headquarters at (404)676-2121.

Image via WikiCommons