Commerce Dept. slow to notify employees of security breach
Why did it take the Commerce Department so long to notify employees that their personal information, including Social Security numbers, had been let loose on the Internet?
On Monday, employees were informed by letters mailed to their homes about "a breach of protocol involving your Personally Identifiable Information (PII), including your Social Security number (SSN) and name."
The breach occurred on Dec. 4 — more than seven weeks before workers were told. It took Commerce nearly four weeks to prepare the letter, which was dated Dec. 31.
According to the letter, "a Department of Commerce employee inadvertently transmitted over the Internet a file containing the PII of Commerce employees to other Department employees. Although the Department employees were authorized to send and receive the PII, the transmission of the PII over the Internet in unencrypted form may have compromised your name and SSN."
Read entire article…
About the Author: