Dallas County officials are striving to determine the scope of a potentially massive data breach after discovering that personal data remained on thousands of computers sold at auction. The sheriff’s department used some of the computers, which comprised data from the county’s internal criminal justice information system, a digital database of criminal cases used by prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges.
“In this age of information, blatant violation of the Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) rules and careless compromise of security is unacceptable,” Sheriff Marian Brown said in a Friday afternoon statement revealing the compromise.
It is unknown how many devices were impacted, whether information from other departments was compromised, where the computers went, and who is responsible for the improper disposal of information. The county has also not specified when the computers were auctioned off.
Jasmyn Carter, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Department, stated in an email that the department is in the process of notifying the Texas Department of Public Safety, as required by law. County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins stated that he will not comment until the “analysis is complete.” District Attorney John Creuzot did not comment on the specifics of the data breach, but he expressed concern.
This article has been indexed from CySecurity News – Latest Information Security and Hacking Incidents
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