Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Alberta Government 'dropped ball' on security breach

Following the incident in which sensitive personal information of senior public servants was found in the course of a drug bust (see Article: Dumpster-diving meth-heads collect info for ID thieves and Incident: Massive leak of personal information in Edmonton, Alberta), the Alberta Information and Privacy Commissioner has released his report. The breach originated with the private contractor, the investigation found, but the government didn't do enough to obtain privacy assurances:

Government 'dropped ball' on security breach:

"The Klein government is not living up to its own rules regarding the security of personal information it collects, charge Opposition Liberals. Edmonton Manning Grit MLA Dan Backs said a report prepared by the privacy commissioner's office into the discovery of personal documents pertaining to senior government officials in a city hotel room last month shows the government is 'failing miserably' in its duties.

'The government really dropped the ball on this one,' Backs said yesterday. 'The government ministers responsible (for the Solicitor General department and Personnel Administration Office) are failing miserably in their responsibility to protect the privacy of Albertans.' However, the report states the leak did not occur at the government level, but rather with TransUnion Credit Information Services Inc., a credit-reporting agency...."

No comments:

Post a Comment