[ISN] Hearing set on hacked state computers; employee groups complain

From: InfoSec News (isnat_private)
Date: Wed May 29 2002 - 02:48:49 PDT

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    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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