Information Security News: Hearing set on hacked state computers; employee groups complain

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/3355173.htm

May. 28, 2002

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - State senators said Tuesday they would
investigate why it took weeks for 260,000 government employees to be
notified that a hacker accessed a computer system containing their
personal financial information.

``There's a lot of people screaming,'' said Dennis Alexander of the
Professional Engineers in California Government.

Democratic Sen. Steve Peace said his committee on privacy planned a
hearing next month into how a hacker or hackers could break into the
state database April 5, why it wasn't discovered until May 7, and why
employees weren't notified until Friday.

Authorities don't know what, if any, information was taken or used.  
The database included employees' last names, first and middle
initials, Social Security numbers and payroll deduction information.

The 7,000-member California Union of Safety Employees blamed
Controller Kathleen Connell.

Connell's office shut off the compromised computers and notified the
Sacramento Valley Hi Tech Task Force the day the breach was
discovered, said John Harrigan, chief deputy state controller for
administration.

The task force advised against notifying the public because it would
hamper the criminal part of the investigation, Harrigan said.




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