Missing Data A Worry

Computer security breaches happen with maddening and terrifying regularity.

The latest involving Connecticut residents is a doozy. Sensitive information on half a million Connecticut residents, most of them customers of People's United Bank, is missing, including Social Security numbers and account data. The information was on a backup computer tape that belonged to The Bank of New York Mellon Corp., the company that helped People's with that bank's switch to a full public company last year.

The tape reportedly carried information on 4.5 million people nationwide from 700 companies. A total of 25 companies have been identified as affecting Connecticut residents.

Reportedly, the backup tape was in the hands of a storage firm hired to transport it when it disappeared. People's United says the information it sent to New York Mellon more than a year ago was encrypted, but the New York Mellon tape that was lost was not encrypted.

Scary enough? It gets worse. The tape has been missing since February, and the state and Connecticut banks were only recently informed of the full extent of the exposure. Some customers are still in the dark about whether they were affected.

The delay in getting the word out is indefensible.

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Source: courant.com