Last month Wright Co. announced one of its employees, who no longer works for them, had transferred private data to his home without authorization and in violation of county policy. 

 

“Wright Co. takes data privacy very seriously and government agencies are held to a higher standard for data protection,” said the county in an updated release. “We have many protocols, procedures and training requirements in place. This unfortunate decision by one individual to not follow policy has triggered this notification effort.”

 

Individuals who did not have data accessed in the incident did not receive a letter. The number of residents impacted by the breach is approximately 72,000.

 

During their December meeting, the Wright Co. Board of Commissioners read aloud the latest information that was released concerning the data breach.

 

It was also noted that credit card information is not maintained by the county and so was not accessed.

 

“I feel confident knowing my information is safe,” said Commissioner Darek Vetsch, whose seven family members all received the notice. “I don’t feel my information has been compromised in any manner that has put my family’s personal information at risk.”

 

“The former employee didn’t mean anything malicious from what I heard,” said Commissioner Charles Borrell. “He was just trying to get caught up on some extra work and didn’t realize the data was on the drive he took home.”

 

The data was all recovered and returned to the county. It was not put online.

 

A Wright Co. resident asked the board why it took six months for the county to inform residents about what had happened.

 

“Before you put information out there you need to go through a series of steps to ensure the public is safe,” said Commissioner Michael Potter. “There’s a process you have to go through. It’s sad it takes that long but there is an explanation as to why it does.”

 

Part of what made the process so lengthy was that there were bits and pieces from numerous databases and computer systems that had to be reviewed by computer forensic consultants to determine both the scope of the breach and the identities of the individuals affected.

 

While the policy investigation is complete and the employee has been terminated, a criminal investigation related to his actions is ongoing.

 

Although there is no evidence of sale or distribution of private information in this incident, residents are reminded to closely monitor their personal and financial data on a regular basis.

 

A company specializing in data notification has been hired by Wright Co. to handle notifications and requests about the incident. For more information residents can call 866-680-3212 or email info@wrightcountydataincident.com.