West Virginia Government Data Breach

Source: West Virginia Government
Number Affected: 200,00
Information breached: Social Security Numbers
How: Lost data tape

West Virginia officials are warning 200,000 past and current members of 3 health insurance programs (PEIA, Children’s Health Insurance Program, AccessWV) that their personal information may have been breached.

A data tape with names, addresses, marital status and Social Security numbers was lost during shipping with the United Parcel Service (UPS). The package was compromised during transit and the data tape slipped out.

This is an example of a very accidental loss of data. This particular data tape can be read only by specialized data processing equipment with specific software. Though this is not a guarantee against data theft, it is a deterrent. Data devices should also be included in security policies and appropriate software, such as encryption, installed.

Via SC Magazine & Daily Mail Tags: data breach, west virginia, lost data, ups