Police have fallen foul of the Data Protection Act after confidential paperwork was stolen from the boot of an officer’s car. The force has now been forced to take remedial action after it emerged the officer did not have a safe at his house and did not store the documents in his secure briefcase. A…
Category: Government Sector
Interior loses CD with personal data for 7,500 federal employees
Alice Lipowicz reports: A compact disc that contains personally identifiable information for about 7,500 federal employees has been reported lost by the Interior Department’s shared services center. The incident occurred on or about May 26, when a procurement specialist at Interior’s National Business Center in Denver reported that the CD could not be located. The…
OH: Treasurer’s site exposes taxpayers’ information to hackers
Barbara Carmen reports: Franklin County property owners paying taxes online before Monday’s deadline might have innocently allowed thieves trolling cyberspace to snag checking-account or credit-card numbers. Computer experts installed safeguards in 2001 when the county adopted a second Web address, one thought to be more memorable. But many people were familiar with the old address,…
NJ: Documents Containing Personal Info from City Hall Found in Public Dumpster
Phaedra Laird reports: Authorities in Middle Township are investigating how documents from Municipal Hall containing personal information like social security numbers, landed in a public dumpster. The information, which was handed over to officials, could’ve easily landed in the wrong hands. “Oh, I got some more social security numbers.” When Carla Carpenter came to the…
OH: Disclosure law doesn’t cover misplaced documents
Josh Sweigart reports: If a government misplaces a pile of documents containing confidential information in a Dumpster, they don’t have to tell anyone. If they lose a password protected laptop computer, state law requires public disclosure within 45 days. That is why Butler County wasn’t required to tell the 10,600 people potentially affected by a…
IL: Springfield publishes private info on FOIA website
Bruce Rushton reports: Admitting that it “goofed,” the city of Springfield put documents online that contained sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, home and work telephone numbers and even a bank account number and the name of someone who called the state anonymously to report suspected child abuse. The documents were…