Tag Archives: Identity theft
News Group chief responds to Berkeley privacy breach
Following this week’s disclosure by Berkeley city staff that roughly 11,000 municipal employee social security numbers had been erroneously divulged to a local media outlet in March, the media outlet’s managing editor said Tuesday that he doubted the data could have been compromised, though it had been “passed around” by employees over email.
Bert Robinson, managing editor for the Bay Area News Group, said the news outlet collects public employee salary and benefit information each year for an online database that is “very popular” on the company’s website. Reporters send 900 requests each year to public agencies to collect data for the project. Robinson said this was the first year “usable information” had been received from Berkeley. … Continue reading »
Berkeley shared SSNs from 11,000 current, past staff
It emerged Tuesday afternoon that more people than previously thought had their social security numbers inadvertently released to a local news organization due to an error by a city of Berkeley employee.
City Manager Christine Daniel said Tuesday that the social security numbers of about 11,000 active and former employees were included in its response to a public information request about salaries from the Bay Area News Group last month.
On Friday Daniel said letters were sent to about 2,000 active city employees on April 15 alerting them to the mistake. … Continue reading »
City apologizes for inadvertent release of employee SSNs
A Berkeley municipal staff member mistakenly disclosed the social security numbers of everyone who works for the city while responding to a public records request, and the city recently sent a letter to staff informing them of the error.
One staffer, who asked not to be identified, called the mistake “appalling,” and another criticized the city for taking weeks to inform employees about the breach. … Continue reading »
ID theft may affect 931 Berkeley ambulance customers
A total of 931 people who used Berkeley’s Fire Department ambulance services have had their personal information accessed inappropriately and are susceptible to identify theft, according to the City of Berkeley.
Advanced Data Processing (ADPI), the ambulance billing vendor for Berkeley, told the city on Oct. 1 that patient account information from the ambulance billing system had been illegally accessed by an ADPI employee.
Berkeley has begun notifying people that information including their name, date of birth and social security number may have been stolen from an agency that collects bills for ambulance services carried out by the Berkeley Fire Department. Medical records were not accessed. … Continue reading »
