Connecticut Sues Accenture for Losing Private Data

Accenture, a company for technology services and consultancy, was sued by the state of Connecticut for losing confidential information related to hundreds of accounts in the state's banks and 58 Connecticut taxpayers.

According to Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, a lawsuit was given against New York-based Accenture on September 19, 2007. Caurant published this in news on September 19, 2007. The lawsuit accused the company of using state property for its own benefits, thus going against its state contract, and for neglecting the security of sensitive data and allowing it to be placed in a backup computer apparatus of the state of Ohio.

Later, the tape was stolen from the motor vehicle of an intern serving the state of Ohio.

Ohio Inspector General, Thomas P. Charles, informed that the data stored on the tape was without encryption. Nytimes published this in news on September 17, 2007. However, there was no evidence of misuse of the information, according to Ohio and Connecticut officials.

In its lawsuit, Connecticut sought damages and compensations for state funds that were spent on securing the information. It had also asked Accenture to refund the money it got as payment.

A company spokesman said that Accenture is ready to facilitate credit monitoring for the 58 Connecticut taxpayers whose personal data were stored on the tape. Also, the company is prepared to work with the state to protect other data that was on the stolen backup tape.

Spokesman for Accenture, Jim McAvoy, said that the company has planned to deal appropriately with any employee involved in the lapse and to instill the necessity of following policies on data protection and company privacy in the workers. The organization is also trying to find out if there is any misuse of Connecticut data in other US states. Accenture's projects are active in over 40 other states.

The Ohio theft news followed several days later when 100,000 residents in Connecticut came to know that their Social Security numbers along with their names were stored in a laptop that was stolen from a Connecticut tax department employee's car. Connecticut has offered free ID theft coverage to those people.

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» SPAMfighter News - 10/6/2007