For the fourth time in the past 30 months, Wells Fargo & Co. has begun notifying customers about the potential compromise of confidential information following the theft of a company computer containing data on mortgage customers and prospective clients. The San Francisco-based bank on Friday posted a statement on its Web site saying that a computer belonging to its mortgage group had been reported as missing while being transported between Wells Fargo facilities by a global express shipping company.

The stolen system contained information such as names, addresses, Social Security numbers and mortgage loan account numbers of Wells Fargo customers. "The computer has two layers of security, making it difficult to access the information," the bank said. So far, at least, there is no indication that the information kept on the computer has been misused in any way, said Alejandro Hernandez, a company spokesman.

The link for this article located at ComputerWorld.com is no longer available.