The loss of a database containing personal information on thousands of eastern Newfoundland schoolchildren is disturbing, a security expert says.

"It's probably the worst thing that can happen, as far as computer security is concerned," Jeremy Rose, a St. John's-area digital security expert, told CBC News Friday.

One of four laptops stolen from the Eastern School District's headquarters held a database with information on about 28,000 students, most of them in the eastern Avalon Peninsula.

The database contained student names, phone numbers, addresses, medicare numbers and parent and guardian details.

Rose said the data add up to building blocks that can be used for identity theft.

He said while it's easy enough to steal an adult's identity, "it's even easier to steal the identity of a child. They may not even have a social insurance number yet."

The Eastern School District said the laptop was password-protected, and that the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary advised the board that the database was likely wiped because thieves usually reformat laptop hard drives.

Rose is not so sure.

"It offers absolutely no security," said Rose, saying that the password could be broken and that the database could be accessed within minutes.

"That's a public relations game, if nothing else," he said of the school board's cautions.

He said thieves are often interested in data, not hardware.

Red flag for government, parent says

The theft happened at the school board's main offices in Atlantic Place, an office complex in downtown St. John's, on Sunday, although the board did not reveal the crime for four days.

"As a parent, I'm very dismayed that the children's and their parents' privacy has been compromised," said Sarah Colbourne-Penney, the mother of three school-aged children.

"This should be a big red flag on this issue, given the recent problems this government has had in this area. I would expect the districts to have strict protection and privacy measures in place to prevent this sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands."

The robbery follows two security breaches that the Newfoundland and Labrador government has reported since late last fall. In one, data from a public lab was exposed on the internet, while in the second, data involving more than 100 workers' compensation clients were exposed online.

"Someone has to be accountable," said Randy Penney, whose son attends Grade 10 at Bishops College in St. John's.

"This is the third episode now … to me, there has to be some type of safeguard placed somewhere that no one can access those systems."

Laptops targeted

Darrin Pike, the chief executive officer of the Eastern School District, said board officials were surprised that the thief targeted the laptops while leaving other assets alone.

"They passed by lots of equipment — computers, lots of other technical devices. They didn't go for any of that," Pike told CBC News.

"They went directly for [the] laptops."

However, RNC Const. Paul Davis said he was not surprised by the thief's choices.

"Laptops now are more common than ever before. Many, many homes have them," said Davis, adding that as the cost of laptops has come closer to desktop units, reports of their theft have climbed.

"They're easy to move. They're easy to conceal, under a coat or in a kitbag, and there is a market for them in the criminal world," Davis said.

Pike said the school board is hoping that the thief formatted the hard drives of the laptops, rendering useless the data that had been there.

Parent Sherry Janes said she believes a thief would not be specifically targeting children.

"They don't care if it's personal information. That's irrelevant to them," Janes said.

"I think the reason they do this is to sell these computers for money, or whatever else they can get for it."