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IL: Paper trail: Records with personal data found blowing in wind
From: kirniki <kirniki () gmail com>
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:10:23 -0500
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/01/paper-trail-records-with-personal-data-found-blowing-in-wind.html Having worked in the banking industry for years, Elida Cruz routinely assured her clients that their personal information would remain confidential. So she was understandably horrified Thursday to learn that paperwork carrying her own Social Security number, birth date, phone number and job history was found literally floating down Touhy Avenue in Des Plaines. Hundreds of documents, including 2009 W-2 forms, investment account balances and job applications -- many with Social Security numbers -- were found blowing in the wind around Touhy and Eastview Drive. [..] "I am pretty much disgusted with this," said Cruz, 47, of Chicago, who was notified by the Tribune that at least 17 documents with her Social Security number had been retrieved. She identified the paperwork as part of a job application with Rabjohns Financial Group/New England Financial in Chicago, which included a completed U4 form required in the industry. Cruz, a former bank officer who is currently unemployed, said she applied for the job several years ago. "All of that is sensitive information," she fumed. "You would think your stuff is secure." Other documents came from banking, insurance and medical facilities located miles away, including 2009 W-2 forms for employees at MedHQ, a Westchester firm that provides business services to health care providers. "I don't know how it could have happened," said Tom Jacobs, MedHQ president. "It is really upsetting to know there might be some documents out there that are loose like that. We are down near Oak Brook and don't have any customers in that area." He said he called the vendor that shreds documents for the company, but no one there claimed responsibility. David Collins, owner of Lindy Manufacturing, a metal stamping company in Downers Grove, said his business does all its shredding in-house, so he has "no clue" how employees' 401K statements from several years ago could have ended up floating around Des Plaines with other sensitive documents. [..] _______________________________________________ Dataloss-discuss Mailing List (dataloss-discuss () datalossdb org) Archived at http://seclists.org/dataloss/ Get business, compliance, IT and security staff on the same page with CREDANT Technologies: The Shortcut Guide to Understanding Data Protection from Four Critical Perspectives. The eBook begins with considerations important to executives and business leaders. http://www.credant.com/campaigns/ebook-chpt-one-web.php
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- IL: Paper trail: Records with personal data found blowing in wind kirniki (Jan 29)