Hard drive containing personal info of half million student loans missing
Posted Jan 11, 2013 09:02:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A hard drive containing personal information on 583,000 Canada Student Loans borrowers dated from 2000-2006 was lost by the federal Department of Human Resources and Skills Development.
The file contained information including student names, dates of birth, Social Insurance Numbers, addresses and student loan balances from recipients across the country. The release says there was no banking information attached.
“I want all Canadians to know that I have expressed my disappointment to departmental officials at this unacceptable and avoidable incident in handling Canadians’ personal information. As a result, I have directed that departmental officials take a number of immediate actions to ensure that such an unnecessary situation does not happen again,” says Human Resources and Skills Development Minister Diane Finley in a release.
Finley says the department will be sending notifications to those affected by the data loss. There will also be a hotline available starting Monday at 8 a.m. EST at 1-866-885-1866.
“The Department is continuing its investigation. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has been consulted. My office has engaged the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on this matter, given its serious nature,” says the release.
“On behalf of our Government, I want to reassure Canadians that we are serious about protecting their personal information. As Minister, I will ensure that every effort is taken so that HRSDC meets the expectations of Canadians in keeping their information safe and secure.”
The hard drive was discovered to be missing in November 2012.
The minister says portable hard drives are no longer permitted and unapproved USB keys will not be able to be connected to the network.
