BBC reports: Northern Ireland’s Department of Justice has been fined £185,000 for auctioning off a filing cabinet that contained personal information about victims of a terrorist attack. The locked cabinet was one of 59 sold off by the Compensation Agency in 2012. When the buyer forced it open, they found it contained documents about injuries…
Category: Exposure
Freeman Company notifying employees after W-2 mail mix-up
Yes, it’s that time of the year again, and this week’s tax records mailing error report concerns Freeman Company in Texas. Freeman uses ADP to prepare their W-2’s, and ADP, in turn, contracts with a mailing firm. In this case, the unnamed mailing vendor had a glitch with their technology that resulted in incorrect barcodes…
PChome apologizes over privacy breach
CNA reports: Web portal PChome Online Inc. apologized Monday for an unintentional release of its members’ private photo albums via smartphones. The company said it fixed the glitch immediately after it was informed of the problem the previous day. “Now our services, especially via smartphones, are functioning normally,” it said in a text message to…
CT: State to offer credit guard for 1099 error
Jesse Buchanan reports: Rebecca D’Angelo, of Meriden, opened a tax form she received from the state on Saturday only to find someone else’s name, address and Social Security number on the bottom of the page. “My intention is to cut the bottom of the form and mail it to its rightful owner with a note,”…
Norwalk, OH: No one in trouble for SSN debacle
Scott Seitz reports: Norwalk officials reported Monday no one will face discipline involving the release of residents’ Social Security numbers during a postcard mailing last week. The cards originally were mailed to provide residents access to 2013 Norwalk municipal income tax forms. Diane Eschen, finance director, said the city provided Shamrock, the firm which processed…
UK: Council apologises for email blunder
The[Boston, UK] council has apologised to almost 600 people after inadvertently revealing their email addressess – many of which were personal accounts. The blunder came as the authority made a big play of launching a Daily Bulletin – a shoot off from its current Monthly Bulletin – offering news from the borough. However, in trying…