BATON ROUGE - A university-owned laptop was stolen from an LSU employee, and now more than 5,000 individuals' information may have been compromised as a result.

The device was stolen out of a locked vehicle, an LSU spokesperson confirmed to WBRZ.

According to the university, the recently-stolen computer may have contained the full names, dates of birth, social security numbers and/or driver's license numbers of 5,500 individuals. The laptop may have also contained the credit card information of others. 

LSU has no indication that any of this information has been accessed or misused, and says the laptop was password-protected. As a precaution, the university says it is also offering free protection software to help detect fraud or identity theft and to assist anyone who believes their information has been misused related to this incident.

A university spokesperson says the information contained in the laptop would have primarily belonged to current and former students, potentially with some faculty data as well.

Letters should reach affected individuals in the next week, and anyone with questions can call 888-829-6561.

In response to this, LSU says it is moving toward encrypting all university-owned mobile devices and is re-enforcing policies regarding protecting devices with sensitive information.