Though there is no evidence that the stolen information has been misused so far, Fidelity has begun sending out letters to all of the affected employees informing them about the incident and recommending follow-up action, a spokeswoman said via e-mail.

The laptop, which held personal data about participants in an HP-sponsored retirement plan, was stolen from employees who had brought it to a business meeting outside of Fidelity, according to Anne Crowley, a spokeswoman for Fidelity Investments.

'It is not our practice to have that level of data on a laptop,' Crowley said. 'We limit significantly the use of such confidential data outside of Fidelity to only those instances where the information is appropriate or required for meetings with clients about their specific plans and participants,' she said.

According to Crowley, the laptop application with the personal data was running on a temporary license that has since expired. As a result, the 'scrambled data' contained in the laptop would be difficult to interpret and generally unusable, she said.

'At this time, we are unaware of any misuse of the information contained in the software on the laptop,' she said. The company has also been monitoring activity in the affected HP accounts and has so far seen no indication of unusual or suspicious activity.