How personal information wound up at the side of the road is a mystery
Technorati Tag: Security Breach
Date Reported:
7/10/08
Organization:
Liberty Furniture*
*"a North Carolina based company with Mid-South ties to Cromcraft - a furniture warehouse in Tate County", Mississippi. According to the report, Liberty Furniture may have gone out of business more than 20 years ago.
Contractor/Consultant/Branch:
Unknown
Victims:
Former employees
Number Affected:
"hundreds, maybe even thousands of people"
Types of Data:
Personal information including W-2 forms and tax forms containing names, addresses, and Social Security numbers
Breach Description:
"Eyewitness News Everywhere Uncovers the personal information of hundreds, maybe even thousands of people - dumped along a Mid-South road."
Reference URL:
Eyewitness News Everywhere
Report Credit:
Kevin Holmes, Eyewitness News Everywhere
Response:
From the online source cited above:
Eyewitness News Everywhere Uncovers the personal information of hundreds, maybe even thousands of people - dumped along a Mid-South road.
[Evan] For those readers who may be unsure where this "Mid-South" is located, in this case it is Mississippi.
We even found W-2 forms, tax forms with people's names, addresses and social security numbers.
Investigators in Tate County are trying to figure out how the papers got there.
Larry Davis made the discovery.
He says he was driving into town when he came across thousands of forms.
"That's just uncalled for...you are entrusting these people with a lot of information that could ruin you very quickly, but yet they treat it like it's trash," said Davis.
[Evan] I think most people share Mr. Davis' feelings. It is puzzling. What was the person who dumped the information on the side of the road thinking, supposing the the person was thinking and supposing the information was dumped and not lost (i.e. fell off a truck).
Financial records, shipping order forms, and W-2's of former employees
"Stupidity on the person that threw it out on the road. The people who disposed of these, there should be some legal action against them, but to me that's mismanagement," said Davis.
[Evan] Again, I think many people share the same feelings as Mr. Davis.
Many of the records are from Liberty Furniture, a North Carolina based company with Mid-South ties to Cromcraft - a furniture warehouse in Tate County
"There all from North Carolina, how did they get here? This is Mississippi. We got some strong wind, but they ain't that strong," says Davis.
Even Cromcraft employees were shocked when we brought this to their attention.
Most of the W-2's are from the late 1970's and early 80's.
[Evan] Wow! These W-2's are 20-30+ years old?!
we're told Liberty Furniture went out of business more than twenty years ago.
Larry Davis' daughter Susan Herron said, "This could be someone's grandparents on fixed income, now their social security number is floating around somewhere and it's awful, people need to be more careful."
Eyewitness News Everywhere caught up with one of the former employees whose personal information was exposed.
"My initial feeling was a very sinking, horrified, scared, feeling....You feel vulnerable and hope your social security number hasn't fallen into the wrong hands. So I have to be diligent in checking my credit report," said the employee.
[Evan] It is interesting to read how a person feels when they learn that their personal information has been compromised. I feel bad for these people. This employee doesn't need to feel "horrified and scared", but he/she does nonetheless, and it's all due to negligence. This is just one reason why information security is so personal to me.
Other former Liberty Furniture employees tell Eyewitness News Everywhere they will be doing the same thing - checking their credit report.
Eyewitness News Everywhere will keep those forms in a secure place until we hand them over to the proper authorities.
Commentary:
There is a lot of mystery surrounding this breach. How did the information get there? Why was the information still kept? Who was in possession of the information before it was found on the side of the road? Why wasn't the information already destroyed if the company who was responsible for it is no longer in business?
Past Breaches:
Unknown
Date Reported:7/10/08
Organization:
Liberty Furniture*
*"a North Carolina based company with Mid-South ties to Cromcraft - a furniture warehouse in Tate County", Mississippi. According to the report, Liberty Furniture may have gone out of business more than 20 years ago.
Contractor/Consultant/Branch:
Unknown
Victims:
Former employees
Number Affected:
"hundreds, maybe even thousands of people"
Types of Data:
Personal information including W-2 forms and tax forms containing names, addresses, and Social Security numbers
Breach Description:
"Eyewitness News Everywhere Uncovers the personal information of hundreds, maybe even thousands of people - dumped along a Mid-South road."
Reference URL:
Eyewitness News Everywhere
Report Credit:
Kevin Holmes, Eyewitness News Everywhere
Response:
From the online source cited above:
Eyewitness News Everywhere Uncovers the personal information of hundreds, maybe even thousands of people - dumped along a Mid-South road.
[Evan] For those readers who may be unsure where this "Mid-South" is located, in this case it is Mississippi.
We even found W-2 forms, tax forms with people's names, addresses and social security numbers.
Investigators in Tate County are trying to figure out how the papers got there.
Larry Davis made the discovery.
He says he was driving into town when he came across thousands of forms.
"That's just uncalled for...you are entrusting these people with a lot of information that could ruin you very quickly, but yet they treat it like it's trash," said Davis.
[Evan] I think most people share Mr. Davis' feelings. It is puzzling. What was the person who dumped the information on the side of the road thinking, supposing the the person was thinking and supposing the information was dumped and not lost (i.e. fell off a truck).
Financial records, shipping order forms, and W-2's of former employees
"Stupidity on the person that threw it out on the road. The people who disposed of these, there should be some legal action against them, but to me that's mismanagement," said Davis.
[Evan] Again, I think many people share the same feelings as Mr. Davis.
Many of the records are from Liberty Furniture, a North Carolina based company with Mid-South ties to Cromcraft - a furniture warehouse in Tate County
"There all from North Carolina, how did they get here? This is Mississippi. We got some strong wind, but they ain't that strong," says Davis.
Even Cromcraft employees were shocked when we brought this to their attention.
Most of the W-2's are from the late 1970's and early 80's.
[Evan] Wow! These W-2's are 20-30+ years old?!
we're told Liberty Furniture went out of business more than twenty years ago.
Larry Davis' daughter Susan Herron said, "This could be someone's grandparents on fixed income, now their social security number is floating around somewhere and it's awful, people need to be more careful."
Eyewitness News Everywhere caught up with one of the former employees whose personal information was exposed.
"My initial feeling was a very sinking, horrified, scared, feeling....You feel vulnerable and hope your social security number hasn't fallen into the wrong hands. So I have to be diligent in checking my credit report," said the employee.
[Evan] It is interesting to read how a person feels when they learn that their personal information has been compromised. I feel bad for these people. This employee doesn't need to feel "horrified and scared", but he/she does nonetheless, and it's all due to negligence. This is just one reason why information security is so personal to me.
Other former Liberty Furniture employees tell Eyewitness News Everywhere they will be doing the same thing - checking their credit report.
Eyewitness News Everywhere will keep those forms in a secure place until we hand them over to the proper authorities.
Commentary:
There is a lot of mystery surrounding this breach. How did the information get there? Why was the information still kept? Who was in possession of the information before it was found on the side of the road? Why wasn't the information already destroyed if the company who was responsible for it is no longer in business?
Past Breaches:
Unknown
Posted by Evan Francen at 7/10/2008 10:44 AM 
Categories: Liberty Furniture (NC), Insecure Discard, Comcraft (MS)
Categories: Liberty Furniture (NC), Insecure Discard, Comcraft (MS)
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