Michigan: 'Glitch' caused personal data leak for up to 1.9 million

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Jun 18, 2007
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smells of Putin...or some kind of spanish. Lol

Lansing — Private information stored in a state computer system for unemployment benefits recipients was potentially exposed to unauthorized viewers after a software update inadvertently caused a system glitch that could have affected nearly 1.9 million individuals, state officials said Friday.

The Social Security numbers and names of up to 1.87 million people could have been accessed, but the exact number is being investigated, according to the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget.

Those whose personal information may have been compromised are active employees in Michigan whose payroll information is processed by 31 third-party payroll vendors whose company names the state would not disclose because of the ongoing State Police investigation.

Up to more than two-fifths of the state’s workforce might be affected by the glitch since the estimated December number of Michigan payroll jobs was 4.36 million, according to the state.

The information was exposed from Oct. 10 to Jan. 30, and does not include addresses, birth dates or phone numbers, according to the state. The breach was discovered Monday and a fix was applied the same day, state officials said.

Everyone whose data was compromised will be notified as soon as possible, a department official said.

“Data security is a top priority for the state of Michigan,” said David Behen, Department of Technology, Management and Budget director and Michigan’s chief information officer. “We will work with our third-party vendors and our state team to review our processes and procedures to avoid incidents like this in the future.”

The latest problem involves the same jobless benefits automated computer system that made more than 20,000 false unemployment benefit fraud claims against Michigan residents over nearly two years. The state recent settled a federal lawsuit on the matter.

Michigan House Minority Leader Sam Singh, D-East Lansing, called the glitch another example of Snyder administration mismanagement.


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State: Glitch caused personal data risk for up to 1.9M