Groan: Victims of Data Breach Receive Letters Intended for Others

I’ve blogged about this data breach before: Federal Department Bans Use of Portable Devices (YAFF).  To add insult to the injury, a “printer error” has led to recipients of notifications about the breach receiving letters intended for other victims.

The federal government is blaming a printing error for the fact that some student loan recipients who received letters to say their personal information had gone missing along with a portable hard drive also got letters addressed to someone else.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada revealed last month that a hard drive containing the personal information of some 583,000 Canadians had gone missing. The data included social insurance numbers and dates of birth of people who had received student loans between 2002 and 2006.

via Victims of student loan data breach get letters addressed to others | CTV News.

Sure, these sorts of errors do happen, especially when using automated printing and envelope stuffing equipment. I’ve got to say, though, that the timing on this error is more than … difficult.  I’m wondering if the IT teams are being blamed here, or just the outsourcing company that provides mailing services.

5 Comments

• 
  Matt Velic 11 February 2013 at 5:12 PM

  Double ouch. You’d think they’d try to do a strong regroup after the first mistake.
  Matt Velic recently posted..Second Session for SQL Saturday #184 in North Haven

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  • 
    Karen Lopez 11 February 2013 at 9:59 PM

    I know. But I’d bet these mailer things happen more often than we realize. It’s just that most of them would never be reported like this.
    Karen Lopez recently posted..Groan: Victims of Data Breach Receive Letters Intended for Others

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• 
  Andy Galbraith (@DBA_ANDY) 12 February 2013 at 8:50 AM

  One word – Sheesh
  Andy Galbraith (@DBA_ANDY) recently posted..Announcing SQL Saturday 197 Omaha Pre-Cons!

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• 
  Karen Lopez 12 February 2013 at 9:05 AM

  I really feel sorry for …well, someone, I don’t know who, who is taking the blame for all of this and probably not responsible for it.
  Karen Lopez recently posted..Got Health Data? Your Penalty Exposures for Data Breaches Just Increased

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• 
  Chad Casady 12 February 2013 at 12:59 PM

  I wonder if they’ll send out notification letters which say they screwed up the notification letters which said they screwed up?

  Reply

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