Computer equipment containing files with sensitive information of nearly 160,000 current and former employees of the Neiman Marcus Group has been stolen, the company said Tuesday.

The files were in the possession of a pension consultant and included each person's name, address, Social Security number, date of birth, period of employment and salary information.

The Dallas-based luxury retailer has "no reason to believe that the data contained in the files ... was the target of the theft nor that the information has been accessed or misused," said Ginger Reeder, vice president of corporate communications at Neiman Marcus.

The data include information on current and former employees of Neiman Marcus Stores, Neiman Marcus Direct, Bergdorf Goodman, Horchow, Horchow Finale, Last Call and individuals receiving a Neiman Marcus Group pension. It also includes information for employees of Chefs Catalog and Contempo Casuals when they were part of Neiman Marcus.

Employees hired after Aug. 30, 2005, are not affected.

It's uncertain whether the stolen information was encrypted.

"The policy of the consulting firm called for the data to be encrypted/protected, but we are assuming that it was not," Ms. Reeder said.

She said Neiman Marcus isn't identifying the consulting firm but said it isn't Neiman's pension administrator, Fidelity Investments.

"We're trying to comply with the request of the local law enforcement authorities not to give away specific details such as that at this time," Ms. Reeder said.

The company isn't saying where the computer equipment was stolen from, but Ms. Reeder said it wasn't Dallas. She also wouldn't identify the law enforcement authorities investigating the matter.

Neiman Marcus has hired credit bureau Equifax to provide credit-monitoring services for at least one year for all 160,000 people involved. The retailer is also sending letters out to each person and will post information on its Web site, said Ms. Reeder.

The list of former employees affected may include some of the retail industry's most influential people.

Among them are Federated Department Stores chairman and chief executive Terry Lundgren, former J.C. Penney Co. chairman and CEO Allen Questrom, former Saks Fifth Avenue CEO Philip Miller, who is the father of Dallas Mayor Laura Miller, and former Neiman Marcus CEO Richard Marcus.

The consultant discovered the theft on April 8 and told Neiman Marcus on April 10, Ms. Reeder said.

"The information was kept private until it was determined that our going public with it won't affect the police investigation," she said.

Chairman and CEO Burt Tansky said in a news release that Neiman Marcus "takes the security of personal information very seriously, and we deeply regret that this incident occurred.

"We are working diligently with law enforcement agencies in our efforts to locate this computer equipment," he added.

The theft of Neiman's data is the latest in a string of security breaches that have occurred this year, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, which tracks identity theft issues.

As of April 12, there were a total of 76 breaches nationwide, affecting 54.5 million consumers.

Last year, there were more than 315 "publicized breaches affecting nearly 20 million individuals," according to the center.

Neiman Marcus said employees and pension recipients with questions or concerns should call an information security help line at 1-800-456-7019. A representative will be available around the clock. Any important new information will also be posted online at www.neimanmarcusgroup.com.

Those affected should place a fraud alert in their credit files, which tells lenders to contact them before extending credit in their name, said Jay Foley, co-executive director of the Identity Theft Resource Center.

They should also monitor their credit report from the three national credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, he said.