As many as 72,000 past and current Stanford University employees could be at risk for identity theft after a university laptop was stolen, reports The San Francisco Chronicle.

Standford officials say the hard drive contained information on employees hired before before September 28, 2007, including  dates of birth, Social Security numbers and home addresses. But the university is remaining tight-lipped about when or where the laptop was stolen or if the data was password-protected, according to this MercuryNews.com article.

So far, there is no evidence that any of the information has been accessed. In a letter to employees posted on the university Web site, Standford VP for Business Affairs and CFO Randy Livingston says the university is committed to helping individuals who may be affected by the theft and provides resources to help employees protect themselves.

In an interview with IT BusinessEdge blogger Carl Weinschenk, Ted Julian, vice president of marketing for Application Security, says universities are prime targets for hackers because they house tremendous amounts of financial and personal information about students, alumni and employees.