According to the Toronto Star, the private data of 8600 Toronto teachers is now in the hands of thieves after unencrypted laptops were stolen from the Ontario Teachers’ Insurance Plan.

The theft has served as call to action for OTIP:

OTIP spokesperson Julie Millard said the company is racing to finish a process it had started last fall to encrypt all data it holds on some 160,000 policy-holders.

“Because of what’s happened we’re working faster to encrypt all our communication devices by March—laptops, BlackBerries, even USB keys,” Millard said of the non-profit company owned by the province’s teachers’ unions.

Data Security, Portable Storage