Hurricane Katrina evacuees victims of data breach
The personal information of Hurricane Katrina evacuees from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama was posted online. All sought assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after Katrina hit the Gulf coast in August 2005.How many victims? About 16,000.
What type of personal information? Not specified.
What was the response? FEMA is conducting an internal investigation about how the information got online. The individuals are being contacted by phone and mail and will receive 18 months of a security monitoring service.
Details: FEMA became aware of the breach Dec. 16. Most of the information posted online was properly released to state agencies that sought the data after Katrina, according to FEMA spokesman Terry Monrad. Monrad declined to identify which Web sites posted the information, which he says
has been removed at FEMA's request.
Source: Chron.com, Houston Chronicle, Associated Press, “FEMA Investigates Katrina Breach,” Dec. 23, 2008.
