WHOOPS

FEMA Shared Personal Information of 2.3 Million Natural Disaster Victims, DHS Inspector General Says

The data, which included bank information, was “unlawfully” sent to a federal contractor.

The Department of Homeland Security inspector general has found that the Federal Emergency Management Agency shared sensitive private information of 2.3 million hurricane and wildfire survivors with a federal contractor. CNN reports that the addresses, “bank transit” numbers, and “electronic funds transfer” numbers of those hit by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, and the California wildfires were “unlawfully” shared with a federal contractor who was helping victims find temporary housing. FEMA reportedly said it began filtering the data late last year to prevent the error from happening again, but stated that a “permanent fix” would not be in place until June 2020. “Since discovery of this issue, FEMA has taken aggressive measures to correct this error,” FEMA press secretary Lizzie Litzow told CNN in a statement. “FEMA is no longer sharing unnecessary data with the contractor and has conducted a detailed review of the contractor’s information system.”