THE CANADIAN PRESS

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MONTREAL - National Bank (TSX:NA) says its mortgage customers should be extra vigilant about suspicious activity in their accounts since Friday, when a laptop was stolen from the company's head office.

The bank says the risk of information being used for fraud is minimal but it's taking precautions to inform and protect clients of the potential risk.

The bank isn't disclosing exactly how many client files are in the laptop database but a spokesman says the theft affects "a high percentage" of National Bank mortgage customers across the country.

"That's why we decided to react very quickly," National Bank spokesman Denis Dube said Tuesday.

"We're in touch with the police. We also have our corporate investigation service that is in charge of the investigation."

The bank discovered Friday during regular business hours that someone had cut a cable tethering the laptop to a desk in an employee's personal office at corporate headquarters.

The laptop contained client names, addresses, bank reference numbers and the number of their chequing accounts. But there were no social insurance numbers, birth dates or signatures, Dube said.

"That's why we say that the impact is minimal, since there was not this kind of personal information," Dube said.

He said most of the information can be easily obtained from any cheque written by the client, so it's difficult for somebody to successfully commit fraud.

However, the bank is writing to its clients about the breach and will investigate any anomalies that are brought to its attention.

National Bank will also compensate clients for any related damages if necessary, Dube said, adding there had not been any calls from customers as of Tuesday afternoon.

"So there's no impact. But we want to be transparent. As a good corporate citizens, we have some responsibilities with our customers."

The National Bank computer theft is one of a growing number of prominent breaches of information security, due to lost or stolen laptops or to unauthorized access to database information.

In January, Bell Canada's corporate security was tipped off to the theft of personal information on about 3.4 million of its clients in Ontario and Quebec.

A Montreal man - who wasn't a Bell employee - was arrested and charged in February and but the company said only limited personal information about clients was at risk.

In Newfoundland, four laptops were stolen in February from an administrative office of the Eastern School District in St. John's, N.L.

One of the school district's laptops had a database of names, addresses, grade levels, health card and phone numbers for about 28,000 students, as well as names of their parents and guardians.