Lax Security Blamed For Theft Of Social Security Numbers www.privateofficer.com

Nashville TN. Jan 4 2008

Two laptop computers containing 337,000 Nashville voters’ Social Security numbers were stolen as the building’s security guard listened to Christmas music, ordered food and visited the break room, failing to make his hourly rounds. When another security guard discovered the break-in through a smashed window after noticing a drop in the building’s temperature two days later, Metro officials tried to review recordings from several video cameras.
But a digital video recorder had been unplugged, erasing any chance of capturing images of the thief or thieves. Those revelations came out Thursday as the Metro Council’s Public Safety Committee grilled officials from the Davidson County Election Commission and two other Metro departments. Several council members continued to express outrage and frustration over the theft, which could expose most of the county’s voters to identity fraud.

“The potential damage to citizens is incomprehensible,” said Councilman Michael Craddock, the committee’s chairman. The department heads said they’ve taken steps to prevent another burglary, including requiring security guards to check windows regularly, taking voters’ Social Security numbers off all laptops and putting alarms on all digital video recorders.Also, security guards are now at the building around the clock after years of only covering 12 hours out of 24 on weekends and holidays. “We’ve learned a lot from this experience,” said Nancy Whittemore, director of Metro General Services, which manages the Metro Office Building, where police believe the burglary took place around 9:45 p.m. Dec. 24. Metro has a five-year contract with Wackenhut to provide security at many government buildings. Wackenhut subcontracts with Specialized Security Consultants Inc. of Mt. Juliet to secure the Metro Office Building at 800 Second Ave. S., just off the interstate loop south of downtown.

Whittemore said the security guard who was on duty during the break-in has been fired by Specialized Security Consultants. “He confessed to the fact that he was not doing what he was supposed to do,” she said. Bob Wieme, the Mt. Juliet firm’s president, did not return a phone call seeking comment. Velvet Hunter, Metro General Services’ assistant director for administration, said earlier in the day that she didn’t know the guard’s name or length of employment with the company.Whittemore also said Metro attorneys were trying to determine if they could get some payment from Wackenhut as restitution for the incident. “I recommend we drop the hammer on somebody,” Metro Councilman Robert Duvall said. Sandy Cole, director of Metro Information Technology Services, said voters’ Social Security numbers shouldn’t have been on the laptops. Cole said her department recommends “sensitive data should not be stored on a mobile device.” But Cole said she has little ability to enforce such recommendations if department heads choose not to follow them.Ray Barrett, the county election administrator, acknowledged that the Social Security numbers didn’t need to be on the laptops, which are used to help polling precinct workers check voters’ registration status. The data was not encrypted, which also went against Metro’s policy. Barrett said Wednesday that he thought it was Information Technology Services’ responsibility to encrypt the Social Security numbers so thieves wouldn’t be able to read them. But Cole said the election commission’s technology professionals should have done that. Some council members also tried to look forward and see what could be done to protect voters from identity theft. They asked if Metro would create a toll-free phone number voters could call to learn about their options. “Do we have staffing in place?” Councilman Keith Durbin asked. Barrett said he didn’t know of any plans to create a toll-free number. A letter voters should begin receiving today will explain how to contact credit reporting agencies.Earlier in the day, more than a dozen council members toured the election commission’s offices, where they saw a piece of plywood covering the space where the window was broken two weeks ago. Barrett told them that one of the laptops sat on a table about six feet from the window. The other was under an employee’s desk, waiting to be repaired.The election commission had no written procedure for securing laptops after business hours but will develop one, officials told the council members.

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