Lindsay Kines and Rob Shaw report:
The British Columbia government is investigating a major security breach after police discovered the personal records of 1,400 income-assistance clients in the home of a government employee, the Victoria Times Colonist has learned.
The records covered a period from December 2006 to April 2007 and included names, addresses, birth dates, social insurance numbers, personal health numbers, and monthly income-assistance eligibility amounts. In some cases, the material also contained the names of people who received payments on behalf of a client.
[…]
Adding to Waters’ concerns is the fact that the letter warning her of the security breach was itself mishandled. A note accompanying the letter says that, “in the last few days you may have received a copy of this letter addressed to someone else. This was due to a clerical error and we sincerely apologize for this mistake.” The note advises clients to return unopened warning letters to the government, or destroy ones that were “accidentally opened.”
Read more from Canwest News Service in the National Post.