Georgia DMV, employee Asif Siddiqui, "hundreds of thousands"
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports Georgia driver’s license data put at risk (Use Bugmenot if you need a login.):
Georgia Technology Authority said Friday that Asif Siddiqui, a 43-year-old Pakistani who worked for GTA, could have downloaded information on “hundreds of thousands” of drivers before he was arrested and fired late last month.
…
The GBI, Attorney General’s Office and GTA are trying to answer those questions as well as determine how many files were downloaded, said GTA Executive Director Tom Wade.
If authorities determine that drivers’ information was distributed, they will be notified, said GTA spokewoman Joyce Goldberg.
Seems to me that the information was indeed distributed.
GTA officials first became suspicious in early April when another employee said Siddiqui had logged onto a computer server that contained drivers’ information, Wade said. “It raised some red flags” since Siddiqui had not been in a job that required him to access that data server for at least six months, Wade said.
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[GTA Spokesperson] Goldberg said Siddiqui told GTA officials when he was hired in 2001 that he is a Pakistani citizen. She said he was not required to submit to a pre-hiring background check.
Its not clear what a background check would have accomplished, given that the fellow (apparently) has no criminal record. If you’d like to contact the GTA to see if your data is included in this, their contact me page lists phone numbers, including “Security – Computers/Networks” at 404-463-2182, the “State of Georgia Data Center” at 404-656-7336, and a main number of 404-463-2300.
In related news, the recently passed “REAL ID” act will require the GTA, and 50 other Departments of Motor Vehicles to insecurely store even more data about you. Don’t you feel warm and fuzzy?
[Update, Sept 4, 2005: See also Asif Siddiqui Update.]
Oh, c’mon. 100 Senators voting in lockstep like good little sheep can’t be wrong, can they?
And it includes biometrics, sorta. How’s that gonna reduce security?
I’m usually fuzzy, but it isn’t very warm today.
5.2% of Georgia residents to get Notice of Stolen Personal Data
Posted by Adam State officials on Friday began notifying 465,000 Georgians that they might be at risk of identity theft because of a government security breach detected in April. Joyce Goldberg, spokeswoman for the Georgia Technology Authority, emphasi…
5.2% of Georgia residents to get Notice of Stolen Personal Data
State officials on Friday began notifying 465,000 Georgians that they might be at risk of identity theft because of a government security breach detected in April. Joyce Goldberg, spokeswoman for the Georgia Technology Authority, emphasized that offic…