Laptop with personal data on 70,000 child support cases stolen
Where did the breach take place? Yuba County, Calif.
How many victims? 70,000 people, including 30,000 children, whose names were on a Child Support Services laptop.
What kind of personal information? Social Security numbers, birth dates and driver’s license numbers.
What happened? A thief stole the laptop, used to back up the county’s main computer system, during a move to a new Health and Human Services building in Linda, Calif.
What was the response? The county notified victims by letter and offered them tips on identity theft protection.
Details: The laptop is protected by double-password security, but police don’t believe the thieves were targeting the personal data. They also stole a microwave and some computer monitors. Authorities said they have some leads in the investigation.
Quote: “We think it (the personal data) was fairly well locked-up.” - County spokesman Russ Brown
Source: “Yuba County data stolen,” July 28, The Appeal-Democrat.
Double password? Maybe they should have included a secret handshake.
Sucks to be them.
Unfortunately this will continue to happen until organizations adopt strict policies about protecting personal data and what can and can’t be stored on a mobile device. There must be specific and swift penalties for staff who violate such policies.
Incidents like these outlined in the Breach Blog hurt many people and yet those individuals who allowed the incident to occur are not being held liable. There is a significant breach of trust that is occurring with these incidents. And those who violate the trust are not being removed from their position of trust.
In short, until there are penalties these incidents are going to continue.