Here’s a case where it sounds like sloppy security may have led to unwarranted criminal charges. Annmarie Timmins reports:
The authorities have dropped their theft and computer crime case against a former Local Government Center employee because the center’s “careless” and “sloppy” security practices would undermine any charges, according to letters obtained from the Merrimack County Attorney’s Office.
The news was a “huge relief” for Ruthanne Bradley, 47, of Concord, who was arrested just over a year ago and charged with concealing backup tapes at the center and manipulating the information on them.
The Local Government Center administers benefits plans for public employees, and its databases hold personal information about thousands of workers throughout the state. Bradley worked for the center’s information technology office.
The backup tapes, which were immediately found, unharmed and mislabeled at the center, did not contain medical or pharmacy claim information, center staff said at the time of Bradley’s arrest. Staff also said there had been no security breach.
“It’s important for me to let people know I didn’t have anything to do with this tape issue,” Bradley said yesterday. “I want everyone who read the story (a year ago) and may have judged me. . . . I want it to be known that it wasn’t me that had anything to do with this.”
Read more in The Concord Monitor.
Previous coverage here.