A Saskatchewan insurance and licensing issuer is on probation after one of its dealers “repeatedly” accessed the personal information of policyholders for non-business purposes.
Lestock Motors, a private company contracted by Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI), is responsible for the breach, reports the Regina Leader-Post. The breach came to light after a witness caught an employee writing down license plate numbers, which prompted Rick Englung and several others to file access to information requests.
Englung discovered that his information had been improperly accessed more than eight times. The records include licence plate numbers, driving data and banking information, according to Global News.
“You can’t just go popping into somebody else’s business,” Englung told the Leader-Post. So far, he is displeased with SGI’s response to the incident.
“We more or less got form letters back,” he said.
The SGI, on the other hand, contends that it was only a minor breach with little to no impact on the affected parties.
“We don’t believe and have no reason believe that any of this information was used for malicious purposes,” said Earl Cameron, vice president of SGI’s auto fund. “It was very basic information; it was a basic customer search of a plate number which brings up your name, address and other basic information on you.”
As a result, Cameron feels that the penalties levied against Lestock Motors are more than adequate.
“The penalties we gave were fitting with what occurred here,” said Earl Cameron, vice president of SGI’s auto fund. In addition to barring the office from access to SGI’s system for two weeks, the employee who breached the databases has been suspended indefinitely.
“We are monitoring their system now, which will track every page they open and all of their keystrokes, and they’ll be in probation for one year,” Cameron said.
While the IT ban forces Lestock Motors to close from July 6 to July 20, angry residents feel that SGI should be taking more aggressive measures to punish the wrongdoers.
“How do they get away with searching through our accounts with just a suspension?” Englund said. “It sure sounds like it’s been a quick sweep under the rug.”
