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Jun 19, 2023

File cabinet with DOH data may have led to a data breach after all

General Assignment Reporter Officials with the state Department of Health said at least one of 93 personal client files found in a donated file cabinet at Habitat for Humanity went beyond the confines

General Assignment Reporter

Officials with the state Department of Health said at least one of 93 personal client files found in a donated file cabinet at Habitat for Humanity went beyond the confines of the nonprofit.

Though a departmental official originally said none of the files were medical records of clients, a department spokeswoman wrote in an email Wednesday the files “did contain personal contact, financial and medical information.”

“We are aware of one case that included a breach that went further than Habitat for Humanity,” Jodi McGinnis Porter, communications director for the department, wrote in an email Wednesday.

“This was discovered through the investigation that occurred July 17 through July 21st. This data breach was an unfortunate anomaly in how DOH handles sensitive information.”

In an follow-up interview, she said: “The investigation regarding the details of how the one breach occurred is inconclusive. However, the client is in possession of their file and [Health Department] Secretary Patrick Allen personally reached out to this client and apologized for the breach.”

The department earlier this week issued a news release that said it had no evidence any of its clients’ records were compromised.

Amanda Frazier, chief privacy officer for the department, said in an interview earlier this week the records in question were personal, not medical records.

McGinnis Porter wrote the department has “taken immediate action to rectify the situation by implementing robust safeguards such as annual training, document management, access and destruction plans, thorough checklists, and enhanced security measures to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.”

The problem arose when representatives of Habitat for Humanity in Santa Fe picked up the donated file cabinet July 1.

A representative of the nonprofit contacted the Department of Health on July 15 to say a search of the cabinet revealed files in the bottom drawer.

Frazier said in the interview a staff member of her department picked up the cabinet and the files that day, adding the oversight was the fault of several employees, who apparently thought someone else had checked the cabinet to ensure it was empty.

“It wasn’t clear to the people moving it there was something in it,” she said in the Tuesday interview.

Although Frazier said she was not aware of any other similar incident, the Health Department earlier this year announced it had inadvertently released protected information on deceased New Mexicans in a response to a public records request by a journalist.

The department said no names, addresses, birthdates or contact details had been compromised in that privacy breach.

State statute authorizes state entities to dispose of any equipment with a resale value of $5,000 or less that is “worn out, unusable or obsolete” and no longer “economical or safe” to other state agencies, tribal governments, municipalities and nonprofits.

General Assignment Reporter

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