OMEN
10-05-2007, 09:11 AM
The Massachusetts Division of Professional Licensure (DPL) last month mailed out 28 computer disks containing publicly available information such as names and addresses of state licensees to 23 individuals who requested the public records.
This week, it followed up those mailings by informing 450,000 individuals that their Social Security numbers were also inadvertently included in the public data contained on those 28 disks, which were mailed out between Sept. 13 and 17.
The contrite letter urged affected individuals to contact the major credit bureaus and place fraud alerts on their credit. The agency also assured them that there has been no indication yet that the exposed information was misused. The letter also noted that all of the disks but two have already been recovered from the individuals who got them.
"None of the individuals who received the disks has indicated that they were even aware the disks contained Social Security information," DPL Director George K. Weber said in a letter posted on the division's Web site.
The Massachusetts DPL, an agency within the state's Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, regulates more than 40 trades and professions.
According to a description of the incident on its site, the foul-up was the result of a "programming error and the upgrading of computer hardware and software" at the DPL. Several categories of licensed professionals were affected by the breach, including licensed nurses, health care professionals, certified public accountants, engineers and land surveyors.
Such snafus are by no means uncommon. Earlier this year, the Chicago Board of Elections found itself facing charges that it failed to adequately protect the privacy of voters in the city after it inadvertently distributed more than 100 computer disks containing the Social Security numbers of more than 1.3 million voters to alderman and ward committee members.
In February 2006, a red-faced Boston Globe found itself having to apologize to about 240,000 subscribers after an attempt to recycle office paper ended up with the company labeling newspaper bundles with routing slips containing customer credit card information.
That same month, a "human error" at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina allowed the Social Security numbers of more than 600 members to be printed on the mailing labels of envelopes sent to them with information about a new insurance plan.
Computerworld
This week, it followed up those mailings by informing 450,000 individuals that their Social Security numbers were also inadvertently included in the public data contained on those 28 disks, which were mailed out between Sept. 13 and 17.
The contrite letter urged affected individuals to contact the major credit bureaus and place fraud alerts on their credit. The agency also assured them that there has been no indication yet that the exposed information was misused. The letter also noted that all of the disks but two have already been recovered from the individuals who got them.
"None of the individuals who received the disks has indicated that they were even aware the disks contained Social Security information," DPL Director George K. Weber said in a letter posted on the division's Web site.
The Massachusetts DPL, an agency within the state's Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, regulates more than 40 trades and professions.
According to a description of the incident on its site, the foul-up was the result of a "programming error and the upgrading of computer hardware and software" at the DPL. Several categories of licensed professionals were affected by the breach, including licensed nurses, health care professionals, certified public accountants, engineers and land surveyors.
Such snafus are by no means uncommon. Earlier this year, the Chicago Board of Elections found itself facing charges that it failed to adequately protect the privacy of voters in the city after it inadvertently distributed more than 100 computer disks containing the Social Security numbers of more than 1.3 million voters to alderman and ward committee members.
In February 2006, a red-faced Boston Globe found itself having to apologize to about 240,000 subscribers after an attempt to recycle office paper ended up with the company labeling newspaper bundles with routing slips containing customer credit card information.
That same month, a "human error" at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina allowed the Social Security numbers of more than 600 members to be printed on the mailing labels of envelopes sent to them with information about a new insurance plan.
Computerworld