Jennifer Pierce of News6 reports that an employee of the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission lost a flash drive with personal information, including Social Security numbers and payroll information, on 5,500 state employees. The employee had transferred the data to a flash drive after his laptop had become infected, and then lost the flash drive at…
Category: U.S.
Washington Department of Labor and Industries exposes contractors’ SSN on web site
In an article that requires a subscription for full access, Bert Caldwell of The Spokesman Review reports that the Washington Department of Labor and Industries web site was shut down for several hours yesterday after a contractor realized his Social Security number was exposed and contacted them. A spokesperson said that the problem was a…
Largo marketing firm pays $350,000, settles complaints by Florida attorney general
Lorri Helfand of St. Petersburg Times reports: A Largo area marketing firm has agreed to pay $350,000 to settle a complaint by the Florida Attorney General’s Office that the firm obtained stolen consumer information and did not take proper steps to ensure data was acquired legitimately. Although VICI Marketing LLC agreed to the settlement filed…
FairPoint probes on security breach
FairPoint Communications Inc. says a worker’s failure to abide by security precautions caused a portable data-storage device containing employee information to disappear from an undisclosed FairPoint office. The device contained information for all current FairPoint employees and some former employees, or about 4,400 individuals in total. Such data may have included names, home addresses and…
FL: Fired Hernando County deputy charged with identity theft over e-mails
Joel Anderson reports: The e-mails referred to one of the highest-ranking officers at the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office as “racist.” They alleged discriminatory treatment against some of the deputies. They were supposedly coming from Sgt. George Smith. However, the e-mails were all the work of an online thief, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Former Deputy…
HHS offers health IT privacy guidelines
Brian Robinson reports in Government Health IT: The Health and Human Services Department has begun overhauling the privacy and security rules that govern personal health information, which is considered vital to attempts by Congress and the Obama administration to broaden the adoption of electronic health records. HHS published guidance on April 17 that outlines the…