Berkeley Laptop With Grad Student Info Stolen

Slashdot | Berkeley Grads’ Identity Data Stolen
Did you get a graduate degree from Berkeley? Or maybe you just applied but didn’t go there? If so, your identity may have been stolen. A laptop was stolen containing names, social security numbers, birthdates, and addresses of grad students, alumni, and applicants. University police suspect that the thief just wanted the laptop, but the irony of California’s mandatory notification law is that the thief may now know they have something even more valuable. Berkeley has set up a website with information on the breach.

Big Question: Why was all of this info stored on a laptop anyway? It seems to me that it would make a certain amount of sense to not allow data like this to be saved on a laptop in the first place.