IBM and Iron Mountain conducted a disaster recovery exercise last month to ensure that California’s child support system could run remotely during a disaster. After the exercises, IBM sent the storage devices containing the personal information to Iron Mountain via Federal Express, but the devices did not arrive at Iron Mountain’s facilities, according to a statement by DCSS.
The devices contained names and addresses, social security numbers, driver’s licences, names of health insurance provider, and health insurance plan ID numbers, as well as employer information. The number of people affected was approximately 800,000 adults and children involved with the DCSS, according to a report by the Associated Press.
The California Office of Technology Services is working with California government contractors, such as IBM and Iron Mountain, on ways to strengthen their information security practices. The office is also establishing new systems and processes designed to eliminate the need for shipping storage devices, DCSS said.