November 30, 2009

State agency goofs on private records

     SALEM, Ore. — Procedures at a state agency in Salem are being reviewed after confidential records were mishandled.
     The blunder was made by the Housing and Community Services agency, and put low-income, elderly and disabled residents at risk of becoming targets of identity theft.
     The records with peoples' names, Social Security numbers, ages and addresses were left exposed in an open recycling bin outdoors.
     "This is horrifying, quite frankly, that a security breach like this has happened," said Victor Merced, the director of Oregon Housing and Community Services. "This is not something we're taking lightly. We're going to review this up and down until we get some straight answers."
     In a separate security lapse by another state agency, confidential records with the names and Social Security numbers of former state parks and recreation employees landed in the same recycling bin.
     The Statesman Journal, after getting a tip from a concerned citizen, reported the security breaches to state officials at the two agencies last week.
     The Oregon Legislature in 2007 passed a law that safeguards records with personal information. The law requires businesses and government agencies to maintain "reasonable" security for the personal information of employees, clients and customers. Failure to do so can result in fines.
     The law protects a person's name in combination with a Social Security number, driver's license, passport or ID card numbers. Also protected are numbers for financial accounts, credit cards and debit cards, along with passwords and access codes.
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Information from: Statesman Journal, http://www.statesmanjournal.com