The Wisconsin Department of Revenue: A Bargain for the Identity Theft Collective

[hue]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-levin/wisconsin-leaks-taxpayer-id-numbers_b_1729239.html


Scott Walker has earned a national reputation for his hack-and-slash approach to government spending. Working hand-in-glove with both houses of the GOP-controlled legislature, the Wisconsin Governor gutted the collective bargaining rights of public sector unions.

While tight with the purse strings when it comes to public employees and a self-proclaimed advocate for small business (though very well-funded by big business), apparently the Walker administration does support full employment for at least one group of workers who clearly don't rely upon collective bargaining: identity thieves.

Last week, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue revealed that it had accidentally made public 110,795 Social Security numbers and tax ID numbers of Wisconsin residents. The numbers were mistakenly embedded in a real estate report and posted to the department's website for almost three months before being removed.

There are some very disturbing trends here. First, the Walker administration doesn't seem to have any concept of what it's talking about when it comes to identity theft. Walker's appointee, Revenue Secretary Rick Chandler, clearly missed the boat when he said in a prepared statement: "We know the individuals who downloaded this file are using it for their own business purposes and have no malicious intent..."

[Scuba]

1. More incompetence from the Walker admin...

from the article...

The previous breaches either involved third-party vendors for the state, or a relatively small number of Social Security numbers leaked by the state itself. But this latest debacle was a whopper: over 100,000 Social Security numbers have been potentially exposed to any fellow, well-intentioned or not, with a laptop or a smart phone. And it was committed by the Walker administration itself, not by some third-party operator in Plano, Texas.

Even after hundreds of thousands of innocent "Cheeseheads" have been exposed to identity theft and all manner of financial crimes; even after the state has spent (or will spend) more than $1 million on credit monitoring for victims (which doesn't really help anyway, since all the thieves have to do is wait a year plus one day to begin their wild spending sprees using the purloined Socials); Scott Walker's appointee had the audacity to imply that he believes the people of Wisconsin are safe.

I have a few suggestions for Mr. Walker that might help to make things right. Firing Secretary Chandler would be a good place to start. (I think you can do that immediately, Governor, as I don't believe he is a member of the Civil Service.) He very clearly doesn't appreciate the importance of data security, or even how it works, and though I'm sure he's a nice guy, this is a weakness the citizens of Wisconsin cannot afford in that position. It would send an unequivocal message to the rest of Wisconsin's department heads that taxpayers' private data is of paramount importance, and must remain private. These data breaches must end.

[midnight]

2. God... why does shit for brains come to mind... Sorry for swearing... but I'm so tired of this

human error excuse crap being used to ruin our families...