State contractor arrested after stealing social security information

Having proper data security is key when preventing fraud at the workplace. This is especially important in areas that deal with other people's finances. There have been countless cases of criminals using access to financial information to benefit their own bank accounts. Last month, Evan Kane, a contractor working for the state of New York, was charged with stealing information from 15,000 people who had applied for Social Security Disability benefits, the Times Herald-Record reports. If those in charge had done a proper background screening on Kane, it would have revealed that he had been arrested in 2009 for impersonating a police officer, the Record reports. The Social Security Administration mailed victims whose information had been compromised a letter, alerting them to the fraud and saying that they were taking care of the situation. "When I found out, I didn't know which way to turn," said Jean Chruma, one of the victims, in an interview with the paper. "And then they send you a pamphlet on how to keep your identity safe." Others have been apprehended by the government for fraudulent activities in recent weeks. The Minnesota Star-Tribune reported that agents from the Department of Homeland Security arrested two men in connection with online identity theft.