Search Privacy Violations, Breaches and Complaints
This database was last updated in December 2015 ago and should only be used as a historical snapshot. More recent data on breaches affecting 500 or more people is available at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Breach Portal.
VA Southeast Network (VISN 7)
Mentioned in a privacy incident report created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on August 10, 2012. Also cited in 225 other reports.
Report ID: SPE000000079051, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 07 Charleston, SC
Issue:
Employee requested assistance from HR to increase life insurance. A relatively new HR assistant had been assigned to his service. HR employee completed top portion of form for the employee but provided the name and fax number of the employee seeking more life insurance when it should have had her name and the fax number in HR. Approval of life insurance increase was faxed back to the employee instead of HR. Approximately ten (10) VA employees had accessed to the material containing his name, SSN, and DOB sent via fax machine. Update: 08/10/12:The employee will be offered credit protection services.
Outcome:
Human Resource's employee counseled on proper completion of paperwork and to double check all data entry. It was a understandable mistake because the form asked for "email address and fax number" and employee thought it referred to employee requesting change. Also, paperwork stated first contact would be email address but employee at FEGLI stated they always send via fax. This particular fax was privy to several staff members. PO spoke with HR employee who was extremely remorseful and promised to never have that happen again.