SCMagazine.com :: 140,000 new parents compromised.. By Georgia's DHR..

Ladies and gentlemen, we have just crossed over into..........

The Twilight Zone..

Sigh.............

To those looking for something to back up the extreme negatives of disability-specific databases, got your something right c'here..

To everyone else, what was it I said not too long ago about how this shtuff affects all in the community.. Hitting close enough to home yet..?

From 140,000 new parents compromised, by Dan Kaplan, Secure Computing Magazine, May 22 2007 10:48..

Forms containing the sensitive information of about 140,000 parents of newborns in the US are at risk for compromise after they were not shredded upon disposal, the Georgia Department of Human Resources (DHR) has told parents in a letter.

DHR, which oversees the state Division of Public Health, said in the letter mailed last week that it improperly discarded records containing the Social Security numbers and medical histories of parents whose babies were born in the state between April 2006 and March 16 of this year.

How the data forms loss was (and wasn't) discovered..

Lisa Moery, spokeswoman for the DHR, told SCMagazine.com today that the incident came to light after an investigative reporter for a local television station discovered the records in March in trash bins outside a facility.

"We weren't aware of it until last week," Moery said.

The article goes on to credit Kevin Simzer, as chief marketing officer of Entrust, with the professional observation that..

.....technology doesn't matter unless organisations ensure employees understand the value of sensitive data while also having the proper policies in place.

"It sounds like they really didn't have these things in place," Simzer said.

The article concludes by referencing that this is not the first time this kind of thing has happened.. It mentions that a Georgia state government contractor misplaced the very personally identifiable information for a reported 2.9 million health care services recipients..

To those contesting the concept of disability-based databases, these are the kinds of things that need cited for, if an organization in the business of securing sensitive information cannot keep that information safe, protected, private, what are the chances the average technically-inexperienced, heavily volunteer-centered organizations are going to be able to do that much better..? No offense to those organizations, but we have to be very real about the danger that disclosure of personally identifiable information forever forward puts in the path of our vulnerable extended family..