GSA Workers Alerted Over ID Leak

Posted on Nov 7, 2010

Flickr / Rosie O'Beirne

In a “how in the world can this happen” moment, federal employees have been put on alert after it was discovered that a worker at the General Services Administration sent the names and Social Security numbers of the agency’s entire staff to a private e-mail address, exposing 12,000 people to the threat of identity theft. —JCL

The New York Times:

The agency, which manages federal property, employs more than 12,000 people. Officials apologized to employees for the incident in a letter dated Oct. 25 — almost six weeks after the breach occurred. The agency said it had paid for employees to enroll in a one-year program to monitor their credit reports, along with up to $25,000 in identity theft insurance coverage.

The letter was signed by Casey Coleman, the chief information officer, and Gail Lovelace, the agency’s senior privacy official. Neither returned calls or e-mails for comment

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