MONTPELIER, Vt. (Legal Newsline) -- A settlement has been reached in the breach of 660 Vermont Health Connect users' Social Security numbers, according to the Vermont attorney general.
SAManage USA Inc., a technology firm that offers business-support services, agreed to change its security methods and legal compliance programs and to pay a $264,000 fine.
In 2016, the company's IT ticketing system allowed unauthorized access to a spreadsheet containing 660 Social Security numbers. The numbers showed up in Bing search results, and a Vermont resident reported the findings to the attorney general.
“My office takes data breach very seriously,” Attorney General T.J. Donovan said. “Vermonters are increasingly aware of the dangers of mishandling Social Security numbers, and we will continue to protect them by enforcing our data breach and consumer protection laws. This is an appropriate penalty given the given the specific facts of this incident and that the company fully cooperated with our investigation.”
Further information about the attorney general's efforts to help protect against data breaches is available at the Privacy and Data Security page of Donovan's website.