A extremely high level coworker of mine had his daughter use his gov't laptop to make a powerpoint and then she brought it into school and it went missing from there. Intensely confidential information and private personal data was on that computer. Nothing happened to him(though he is sort of a celebrity in our field) and nothing was leaked. NBD.

Anonymous wrote:Once the their turns over the laptop and sees that it has a sticker on it indicating it is federal property, it will be tossed in the trash.

Probably, but OP is the panicky type. Information tends to calm down these folks.

Once the their turns over the laptop and sees that it has a sticker on it indicating it is federal property, it will be tossed in the trash.

Check the trunk and less obvious places. Did you set it down somewhere in your house or put it in a desk drawer.

If you never save anything to the hard drive, then I don't think this is that big of a deal. You'll just fill out a few forms.

OP - Your IT department may be able to trace your missing laptop.

The big question the agency will want to know is what you had on the hard drive. There have been numerous times when laptops stolen from government employees contained files that included people's names, addresses and social security numbers, that made the Washington Post. So take a few deep breaths and make a list of the information that you think is on the hard drive.

Anonymous wrote:Was there confidential info on it? Was it password protected?

It was password protected and I never save anything to the hard drive. Its possible that a back-up is saved to the hard drive but the last time I lost a document and tried to find it on the hard drive, it wasn't there, so its doubtful. I just emailed my supervisor.

Was there confidential info on it? Was it password protected?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - Since we're not mind readers, you may receive responses that you don't think are helpful.

The first step is too calm down, you are too defensive.

Sorry, I am in a bit of a panic. I just meant that if office gossip is a worst case scenario, that's fine bc that doesn't bother me. I am just worried they wont let me work at home anymore or something.

That is possible, but you must calm down. Panic won't help. Retrace all of your steps, document them.

Good luck.

Anonymous wrote:OP - Since we're not mind readers, you may receive responses that you don't think are helpful.

The first step is too calm down, you are too defensive.

Sorry, I am in a bit of a panic. I just meant that if office gossip is a worst case scenario, that's fine bc that doesn't bother me. I am just worried they wont let me work at home anymore or something.

OP - Since we're not mind readers, you may receive responses that you don't think are helpful.

The first step is too calm down, you are too defensive.

I don't care about office gossip, I just don't want to get in big trouble. I cant imagine it was stolen as no one was in my house to steal it. I have absolutely no idea what could have happened.

My Fed co-worker had a work laptop missing/stolen from her home. Her supervisor insisted that she file a police report. It was never recovered. Embarrassing topic of office gossip for a while, otherwise not a big deal.

Mine is missing. I could have sworn I brought it home but its not in my bag and I just checked my office and its not there. What happened?