Chicago Teachers Union representatives Monday shocked by admitting a security breach that shared the Social Security numbers of 1,700 former Chicago public school employees with hundreds of their colleagues, creating a risk of identity theft.
CTU Recording Secretary Mary McGuire said she was "outraged," insisted to know what CPS would do if CTU members were mistreated, and questioned CPS attempts to fix the problem.
Chicago Schools CEO Arne Duncan declared Monday that a 125-page list of the names, addresses, Social Security numbers and health insurance information about 1,739 former CPS employees had unintentionally been replicated and mailed out last week.
Duncan didn't know how many of the 1,739 employees received the 125-page list, but CPS officials said they got more than 200 calls or e-mails about the unintentional mailing Monday alone.
Duncan advised former staff to enroll right away for a free credit fraud alert, and said the system was considering whether to invoke a state law that starts Jan. 1 and allows customers to put an indefinite security "freeze" on credit reports. CPS is "looking at the possibility" of picking up the $30 per person tab for the service, he said.
Additionally, all 1,739 former employees were being mailed a formal regret Monday, along with a notice asking them to either mail back the 125-page list, or to destroy it and send CPS a notice that they had done so.The list at first accompanied a notice about health insurance enrollment.
Victims can at least be certain that their private information "did not go out to some broader audience," Duncan said. It was shared only with "the CPS family. They are people of astonishing integrity."
However, McGuire said putting the 125-page list back in the mail risks compounding the security breach.
"I don't understand how sending information that sensitive again through the mail is going to help the situation," McGuire said.
'Mistakes on both ends'
McGuire also noted that CTU President Marilyn Stewart has been asking CPS to strip Social Security numbers off all printed material for more than two years.
CPS spokesman Michael Vaughn said Social Security information are used only for former employees, and new software should eliminate their use by March.
Beth Givens, director of Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, called the error "very serious" and one that "kind of boggles the mind."Vaughn said it appeared there were "mistakes on both ends."CPS should have given the printer clearer directions, and the printer, All Printing & Graphics Inc., should have realized that the sensitive information should not have been mailed, Vaughn said.
Retired teacher Jeanette Rieger said she and her husband, retired teacher Paul Rieger, feel "very violated.""There's a potential for this to be a problem for you for years and years," Rieger said.
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