Peter Wong reports:
A breach in computer data security exposed personal information, including names and Social Security numbers, of 62 current and former employees and others working with environmental programs of the Oregon Department of Transportation.
The agency announced the breach this morning.
The breach was called to the agency’s attention two weeks ago by a citizen, who suggested that a file buried deep in the agency’s file transfer protocol site contained what appeared to be encoded Social Security numbers.
[…]
Only one file, out of more than 11,000, contained such information. While experts could not determine when the file was uploaded, they say the worst-case scenario is that the information possibly could have been online since 2002. Social Security numbers were once routinely used as identification numbers; ODOT no longer follows that practice.
Read more on StatesmanJournal.com.
This is the same type of breach/exposure as Yale reported last month. I am grateful that StatesmanJournal.com didn’t call this “google hacking,” as USA Today had done in reporting that incident.