Boeing: Worker inadvertently emailed personal information of 36,000 employees

SEATTLE -- A Boeing employee put the personal information of 36,000 fellow workers at risk when he inadvertently emailed a document to his spouse to ask for formatting help with the spreadsheet, Boeing confirmed.

GeekWire first reported the story Tuesday.

The document contained the social security numbers and birth dates for 36,000 Boeing employees, including 7,288 who live in Washington state, Boeing said.

That information was contained in hidden columns, Boeing said, while the portion of the spreadsheet the Boeing worker was able to see contained the employees' names, place of birth, employee IDs and accounting department codes.

The incident occurred last Nov. 21, and Boeing discovered it on Jan. 9.

In a letter dated Feb. 8 sent to state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, Boeing disclosed what had happened and said it conducted "a forensic examination of both the Boeing employee’s computer and the spouse’s computer to confirm that any copies of the spreadsheet have been deleted.”

The company said it was confident the information hadn't been spread beyond the two devices.

In a separate letter to affected employees, Boeing said it would be offering them free two-year memberships in an ID protection service and will also be requiring additional training of its employees on handling personal data.