Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) is no stranger to news headlines when it comes to lax security of personal data. Experts at InfoWatch point out that the latest leak at the company, the third in quick succession, signifies negligence on the part of management.
ACS has informed over 500,000 people that their private data has been compromised following the theft of a computer from company offices. The exact number of those affected is still unclear, but according to some estimates, the figure could reach 1.4 million people. The company is currently sending out hundreds of thousands of notification letters.
The latest incident is not the first leak of personal data from ACS. In August 2006 the private details of 32,000 students were accessible to all Internet users after a glitch in ACS’ software. A few months earlier, at the end of May, two computers containing private information on Motorola employees were stolen from the Chicago office of ACS.
In light of all those incidents, the question arises as to whether the company is actually capable of safeguarding personal information. Meanwhile, ACS spokesman Kevin Lightfoot has firmly rejected any doubts on that score. He said ACS takes the problem of protecting data very seriously and the incidents that have affected the company have been everyday thefts that in no way mean the company is negligent.
That doesn’t make things any easier for the victims, however, especially when the company was responsible for the data in its possession. After an incident at Denver airport, when credit card transaction records were stolen, ACS was banned from storing such information. Nevertheless, there’s no guarantee that another hole in their defenses will appear, affecting several thousand more clients of the firm.
Denis Zenkin, marketing director at InfoWatch, fully agrees with the criticism directed at ACS. “This is obviously an oversight by the company. The computers didn’t need to be stolen by outside criminals. Any disgruntled employee with knowledge of the holes in the company’s system could have accessed the information.”
Source: RockyMountain News
