A 15 year old student managed to hack into a school computer in Pennsylvania. He got his hands on 2005 tax return information for 41,000 which sent a town meeting for a loop.
From DailyLocal dot com:
Borough police arrested a 15-year-old Downingtown West High School freshman on May 21 and charged him with theft by unlawful taking or disposition, computer theft, unlawful duplication and computer trespass.
District administrators learned about the intrusion on May 9, when a student told Downingtown West’s principal that another student might have personal information, Griffin said. But 71 school employees did not learn their 2005 W-2 forms were copied until May 16, and Griffin said this was because district officials had to first perform “due diligence.â€
According to police, the data files contained more than 41,000 adult taxpayers’ names and personal information, including Social Security numbers, and more than 15,000 students’ names and personal information. The school district sent out letters to 16,595 residences about the incident.
Eldredge said he received the school district’s letter but believes it’s a dead issue.
“For me, I’m comfortable that nothing was done with the information,†Eldredge said.
But, not everyone felt the same.
“I have a tremendous objection to anyone but the county having this information,†West Bradford resident Susan Singer said. And if there are instances of identity theft, “I will be more than outraged,†she said.
ID theft can scare the best of us at the worst of times.
I read the article differently. It says taxpayers’ information, not tax return information. Still not a good thing, but different.
@Gil
At 20 past 5 in the morning we’re lucky I didn’t head off on a tirade about individual mustard packets 🙂
Fair point. Thanks for the clarification.