Taxpayer tab for credit and identity theft protection could top $711 million

Canadian taxpayers could be on the hook for $700 million for the loss of almost 600,000 student loan files, found during a search for another 5,000 missing personal files first reported by The Free Press.

Taxpayers will pick up the tab for credit and identity theft protection service to as many as 583,000 Canada Student Loans Program participants whose personal information was contained in a missing hard drive.

“What a Keystone Cops performance,” Gregory Thomas of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said Friday. “It’s unbelievable they’d put information for 583,000 people on an (external) hard drive.”

Thomas did credit the federal government for offering to pay for security for the nearly 600,000 people affected by the one information security gaffe, as did the Canadian Association of Student Associations.

But students are worried about the long-term effect of the loss, said national director Zachary Dayler

“What we are most concerned about in the long run is the implications this unexpected expenditure could have on federal financial assistance for students,” he said.

The missing drive, from the Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) office in Gatineau, Que., contained names, birth dates, social insurance numbers, addresses and loan balances of people who got federal student loans between 2000 and 2006.

So, the feds have contracted credit bureau Equifax to protect affected students for up to six years.

“While there is no evidence that information has been fraudulently accessed or used, I want to reassure Canadians that we are serious about protecting their personal information,” Human Resources Minister Diane Finley said in a statement. “That is why we will provide potentially affected individuals with credit protection at no cost, which will flag their credit files and help detect any potential compromise of their personal information.”

HRSDC officials say the contract with Equifax is sensitive commercial information, so they’ve refused to make public what it’s worth.

Credit protection service doesn’t come cheaply, though. An individual signing up with Equifax for the protection would pay almost $17 a month.

If that were extended to everyone potentially affected by the data loss, the cost over six years would top $711 million dollars.

Student loan applications can carry a lot of financial information, including that of parents, said Zack Dodge, president of the Fanshawe Student Union in London.

“The applications are pretty comprehensive documents.”

Coming of age in the Internet world, students today trust online sites to protect information, especially government sites, he said.

“You are under the impression these are secure sites.”

Original Article
Source: lfpress.com
Author: Daniel Proussalidis, Randy Richmond