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Teachers Angry Over Security Breach
School Officials Say They Have Good Leads In Case
POSTED: 5:44 pm CDT April 9,
2007
UPDATED: 7:25 pm CDT April 9,
2007
CHICAGO -- Chicago Public School teachers said Monday they were angry about a breach of security involving personal information of 40,000 teachers.
"I'm furious, I'm outraged and I'm disgusted," said Chicago Teachers Union President Marilyn Stewart.
Two laptops were stolen on Friday that contained the Social Security numbers of the teachers. A $10,000 reward was being offered for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible for the theft. Surveillance video captured the thief on tape, CPS officials said. The thief, however, has not been caught, nor have the laptops been recovered.
NBC5's Phil Rogers reported that school officials also had pictures of the thief on the 16th and 13th floors, as well as pictures of him leaving the building with a backpack. School officials added that they know how the intruder got into the building, and even have a couple of names of who he might be.
"In fact, there's several very promising leads, and we're encouraged by the progress that is being made in this case," said Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan.
School Board President Rufus Williams defended the fact that consultants had downloaded such sensitive employee information to their own portable devices.
"You may not carry all of your family's information on a laptop, but I guarantee that if you take out your cell phone, you've got information there that is sensitive -- that you may lose," he said.
Teachers said they wanted to know why, if the computers were stolen at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, they weren't informed of the thefts until nearly 9 p.m. on that same day.
"How could your employer, the person you trust, let this happen to you?" asked one teacher, Caryn Block.
Stewart brought in her own security consultant, who said that the school board should not still be maintaining employee databases with Social Security numbers.
"Forty thousand Social Security numbers with names on a couple of machines makes a pretty lucrative high-reward asset for the thief," said the consultant, Dan Yost.
Stewart stopped just short of calling for Duncan's firing.
"If Arne Duncan cannot guarantee our protection our privacy, he should not have that job," she said.
One of the laptops has biometric fingerprint encryption, but there was still concern over what could happen if either of the machines fell into the wrong hands, Rogers reported.
Williams said the school board was still asking for the public's help in finding the person responsible.
"There is a picture in the paper," Williams said. "That's why we're asking people to look, to see if they recognize the picture of the person who was in the paper."
| Images: Teachers Angry Over Security Breach Video: Teachers Angry Over Security Breach | |
"I'm furious, I'm outraged and I'm disgusted," said Chicago Teachers Union President Marilyn Stewart.
Two laptops were stolen on Friday that contained the Social Security numbers of the teachers. A $10,000 reward was being offered for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible for the theft. Surveillance video captured the thief on tape, CPS officials said. The thief, however, has not been caught, nor have the laptops been recovered.
NBC5's Phil Rogers reported that school officials also had pictures of the thief on the 16th and 13th floors, as well as pictures of him leaving the building with a backpack. School officials added that they know how the intruder got into the building, and even have a couple of names of who he might be.
"In fact, there's several very promising leads, and we're encouraged by the progress that is being made in this case," said Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan.
School Board President Rufus Williams defended the fact that consultants had downloaded such sensitive employee information to their own portable devices.
"You may not carry all of your family's information on a laptop, but I guarantee that if you take out your cell phone, you've got information there that is sensitive -- that you may lose," he said.
Teachers said they wanted to know why, if the computers were stolen at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, they weren't informed of the thefts until nearly 9 p.m. on that same day.
"How could your employer, the person you trust, let this happen to you?" asked one teacher, Caryn Block.
Stewart brought in her own security consultant, who said that the school board should not still be maintaining employee databases with Social Security numbers.
"Forty thousand Social Security numbers with names on a couple of machines makes a pretty lucrative high-reward asset for the thief," said the consultant, Dan Yost.
Stewart stopped just short of calling for Duncan's firing.
"If Arne Duncan cannot guarantee our protection our privacy, he should not have that job," she said.
One of the laptops has biometric fingerprint encryption, but there was still concern over what could happen if either of the machines fell into the wrong hands, Rogers reported.
Williams said the school board was still asking for the public's help in finding the person responsible.
"There is a picture in the paper," Williams said. "That's why we're asking people to look, to see if they recognize the picture of the person who was in the paper."
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