WA: ID theft bonanza left unsecured at state building

Although I covered this incident on DataBreaches.net, I’m including it here, too, as health-related data were reportedly involved.

Tracy Vedder reports:

TACOMA, Wash. — When we handed Lyle Lippel a set of documents that could have been used to steal his identity and cause financial ruin he said it was crazy and scary that the papers were so easy to find.

Lippel’s private information was in a pile of paperwork dumped in plain sight, accessible to anyone walking by the state-owned Rhodes Building in downtown Tacoma. The documents contained Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and mothers’ maiden names for his whole family.

[…]

The State Department of Labor & Industries was one of the worst offenders. We found documents from inside their office that included names and Social Security numbers, health and injury claims, and copies of business checks complete with account and routing numbers.

[…]

We also found sensitive documents from the Washington State Employees Credit Union, where we got the Lippel’s information, and the Court of Appeals.