Off-site Data Storage Contractor Lost Personal Backup Data
Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOFA) uses Data storage
contractor "Iron Mountain" for storing off-site backups of their important data.
LOFA was recently notified by Iron Mountain that they had lost a backup media
containing personal information of students. Some of the information lost
included names, dates of birth, social security numbers, and possibly some
financial records.
The backup media (disk, tape, etc) was lost in transit, while being physically
transported between the two facilities by a vehicle.
LOFA's Report:
http://www.osfa.state.la.us/Notice.htm
Comments:
From what it seems the data was not encrypted. Data stored off-site should
be encrypted.
Transferring data off-site in the form of tapes, disks, and other forms of media
is not as safe, and cost effective as online backup.
Read more about
online-backup
