A Spotsylvania school employee went online recently to find a W2 form. The employee's W2 form was viewable, all right -- through a simple Google search.
The personal data of some Spotsylvania school division employees was briefly made public online over the holidays, Fredericksburg.com reports.
The breach was discovered Dec. 23 due to an employee's search, school spokesperson Rene Daniels said.
The problem was "immediately addressed" despite staff being off-duty for the holidays, Daniels said -- but it was 13 days before the school division began notifying employees by mail. The letter that went out was dated Jan. 4 and mailed Jan. 5.
Why not email, to get the message out faster?
Fredericksburg.com reports:
Daniels said the division decided to inform employees by letter to be sure every employee received it, since some have retired. She also said the division felt it would be more personal and convey the level of gravity the division felt the incident merited.
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A W2 form includes a person's name, address, Social Security number, wages earned and taxes paid. The security breach only affects those who opted to receive their W2s online school division has contacted the three credit reporting bureaus to make them aware of the situation.
