University of California, Berkeley, police are investigating the theft of a campus laptop computer that contained files with the names and Social Security numbers of more than 98,000 individuals, mostly graduate students or applicants to the campus's graduate programs.

The computer was stolen March 11 when an individual entered a restricted area of the Graduate Division offices that was momentarily unoccupied. A campus employee saw the individual leaving with the laptop and contacted campus police. The case remains under investigation.

The stolen computer contained information on most individuals who applied to graduate school at UC Berkeley between fall 2001 and spring 2004 (except law school students); graduate students who enrolled at UC Berkeley between fall 1989 and fall 2003; recipients of doctoral degrees from 1976 through 1999; and other small groups of individuals. Approximately one-third of all of the computer's files contained dates of birth and/or addresses in addition to Social Security numbers and names.