[not their victim]

Dunne slammed over IRD privacy breaches
ANDREA VANCELast updated 05:00 29/10/2012
0 Revenue Minister Peter



Winz kiosk security flaw exposedSomeone needs to be sacked over Winz bungleWrong WINZ letter causes distress
Politics



rMultiple privacy breaches involving more than 6000 people in the past year show "systemic issues" at the Inland Revenue Department, Labour says.

A release of documents under the Official Information Act shows 32 breaches involving 6300 individuals.

Labour revenue spokesman David Clark said the situation was "outrageous".

He believes that, including mass privacy breaches at the Accident Compensation Corporation and Work and Income, almost 16,000 people have had their personal details wrongly released.

"One privacy breach is too many . . . Something terribly wrong is going on at IRD," he said.

"[Revenue Minister] Peter Dunne is taking his eye off the ball."

More than 5000 Inland Revenue clients had not been told of the breach, he said.

The department alerted 679 clients because they were considered at risk of identity theft.

In March it was revealed ACC mistakenly released the names and details of 6500 clients, including 250 sensitive-claims clients who are victims of sexual abuse and violent crimes.

Privacy breaches at Work and Income have mounted after it was revealed earlier this month that a major security flaw allowed the access of thousands of files on public computer kiosks.

Inland Revenue said it was tightening up email security.






http://www.stuff.co....rivacy-breaches

[not their victim]

so now we have the trifecta...


acc, winz, and ird...

nothing is sacred within this government any more

IMHO of course...

[not their victim]

http://www.voxy.co.n...stions/5/139015

Monday, 29 October, 2012 - 11:07Peter Dunne must front up and explain how the IRD breached 6,300 Kiwis’ privacy and why over 5,700 people haven’t been told of the loss of their private details, says Labour’s Revenue spokesperson Dr David Clark.

"Peter Dunne isn’t doing his job properly. The evidence of IRD’s systemic failure to protect our privacy raises questions that demand proper answers. Instead Peter Dunne can’t tell us what happened, why it happened and who is to blame.

"Peter Dunne seems to think 32 breaches isn’t systemic. He needs to explain why. Voluntary compliance of our tax system revolves around trust. Peter Dunne’s evasion and avoidance undermines that trust.

"New Zealanders want Peter Dunne’s answers to five key questions."

1) How did each of the 32 breaches happen?

2) What was the nature of the private details released?

3) Why have 5,700 people not been told that their private details have been released?

4) Has anyone been held to account in IRD?

5) What actions has he taken to fix the problem?

"One of his excuses is that apparently most of the breaches were from one email. That’s hardly a silver lining, it’s basically what happened in the ACC case.

"Peter Dunne seems to think he is immune from answering these questions. He has been Revenue Minister for seven years and the IRD is a shambles.

"The IRD still needs to collect around $7 billion of tax and has left one million tax returns unprocessed.

"The biggest problem is the FIRST computer system which is 20 years old and essentially held together by sellotape.

"Peter Dunne says it will be fixed over the next 10 years but hasn’t provided a cogent plan or proper timeline. That’s not good enough."

[not their victim]

just on a side note...

the numbers are very coincidental with the privacy numbers of breaches within acc...

if you believe what was re-reported by other media personnel....

the original news release stated 9000........

but to downplay, the number was altered to approximately 6000...acc claimants....

[not their victim]

IRD's computers `a pig of a system'
NZ NewswireUpdated October 29, 2012, 6:24 pm

Inland Revenue is working with "a pig of a system" and needs to spend $1 billion upgrading its computers, Prime Minister John Key says.

The heat is on the government to fix it after IRD revealed it breached the privacy of 6379 people in 32 separate incidents in the past year.

It says 638 breaches were serious enough for officials to put security measures in place to prevent identity theft, but 5741 were not considered serious enough for the people involved to be informed, One News reports.

The department has still not told those 5741 people their privacy was breached.

Mr Key says IRD has 25 million contacts with taxpayers every year.

"From time to time there will be issues," he said on Monday.

"Their system, quite frankly, is a pig of a system - it has been around since 1991, they need to spend a billion dollars upgrading it and it's got some issues".

The revelations apparently took Revenue Minister Peter Dunne by surprise - and Labour's revenue spokesman David Clark says it's clear Mr Dunne isn't doing his job properly.

"The evidence of IRD's systemic failure to protect our privacy raises questions that demand proper answers. Instead Peter Dunne can't tell us what happened, why it happened and who is to blame," Dr Clark said.

Mr Dunne said any breach was a concern and the department had to tighten up its security.

The revelations follow highly publicised privacy breaches by the Accident Compensation Corporation and Work and Income public kiosks, and come a month after Inland Revenue apologised for accidentally sending 28 people's information to a single client.
http://nz.news.yahoo...ig-of-a-system/

[not their victim]

Immigration staff axed over privacy breaches

</h2>DANYA LEVYLast updated 05:00 22/11/2012Share0<h2 style="margin: 5px 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;">Related Links
Privacy blunders mount at ministryYet another privacy lapse sparks concernsDunne slammed over IRD privacy breachesWork and Income privacy breach findings out today
Politics
Shearer urges disgruntled MPs to move onImmigration staff axed over privacy breachesNovopay defended after muzzle endsShearer defends Labour muzzleLabour in public war - KeyPower of old guard part of leadership tussleWatchdog cynical on liquor education moveShearer blasts Cunliffe for 'undermining leadership' Shearer expected to have unanimous backingCunliffe yet to lose crunch after soakingImmigration New Zealand has breached the privacy of more than 200 people - most of whom were not informed - in incidents in the past three years that led to 10 staff members losing their jobs.

It follows privacy breaches by state agencies including Work and Income, Inland Revenue and ACC, and raises fresh concerns about the Government's ability to keep personal details secure as it develops a controversial sex-offender register and vulnerable-children database.

Figures obtained by Labour show 207 people had their personal details "compromised" but only 12 of those were informed.

Labour's immigration spokeswoman, Darien Fenton, said the service kept records of almost every personal detail about its clients, including ages, family status, health checks, work history, income and criminal convictions.

"They store an incredible amount of information. This looks like they have been pretty careless."

The incidents could be staff sending the information to the wrong person or staff accessing personal information and sharing it around, she said.

In July, it was revealed that some Immigration NZ staff had been entertaining themselves by using confidential databases "like a dating site" and accessing the information of wealthy applicants.

In the past three years six staff had resigned over privacy breaches, four had been dismissed and eight had been given final written warnings, the figures show.

Ms Fenton said Immigration NZ should inform everyone whose privacy was breached. "They should be upfront and honest about it."

The Government was putting two bills through Parliament enabling it to store more information electronically and Immigration NZ's proposed "global management system" would allow for more online processing, she said.

"There are always risks and the Government is being far too shabby about the way they are going about this."

Immigration Minister Nathan Guy said the increasing number of breaches were because staff were more aware that they had to report every incident.

"Any breach of privacy is disappointing, but it needs to be remembered that Immigration New Zealand makes around 500,000 decisions every year."

Immigration NZ general manager Nicola Hogg said all staff were required to sign a code of conduct to say they would behave ethically.

"Only certain Immigration NZ staff have access to client files when it is necessary for their job.

"Employees must not access records of well-known members of the public for reasons not connected with their work."

Ad FeedbackAll accessing of client information was recorded and regular checks were conducted and audits ordered when there were complaints.

Under current practice, staff contacted the affected person immediately and apologised if a breach involved the accidental release of one person's information to the wrong person, she said.

Immigration NZ was now part of the Business, Innovation and Employment Ministry, which was reviewing its policy on privacy breaches.

SLIP-UPS THIS YEAR

March: ACC inadvertently emailed personal information of about 6700 clients, including 250 sexual abuse cases, to claimant Bronwyn Pullar.

October: Work and Income closes its self-serve kiosks after blogger Keith Ng reveals he was able to access private details of thousands of clients, including children in care.

October: Inland Revenue had 32 privacy breaches involving personal details of 6300 people being sent to the wrong person in the past year.

November: The Education Ministry's new payroll system, Novopay, sends details, including the bank account numbers of teachers, to at least two wrong schools.

November: Immigration NZ breaches the privacy of 207 clients over the past three years. Only 12 are informed their personal details were accessed.






http://www.stuff.co....rivacy-breaches

[Moeroa]

This PI http://www.debugging.co.nz/about-us paid IRD staff for info so he could trace people back in the 80s until they were sprung in the 90s... http://dwillets.site...stralia.com.au/