The Colorado DMV office in Longmont appears to be staffed by employees that suffer from a severe case of MDD (motivational deficit disorder). Apparently the statewide DMV management folks running the show haven’t been performing their jobs up to professional standards either. The Longmont Times Call editorializes…
A recent state auditor’s report revealed that your driver’s license information is not as secure in the state’s hands as you might think, and not just because of lax controls that allow people to acquire licenses illegally. The Motor Vehicle Division has not been performing comprehensive criminal background checks on prospective employees, and until a state audit revealed the lapse, at least 33 former employees maintained access to the division’s computers.
Additionally, the state auditor’s office revealed the following deficiencies:
Read the whole thing!
Well heck, here’s the complete editorial as I don’t believe the link will stay good. Let’s hope the Times Call copyright gods don’t come after me…
Opinion
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Times-Call Editorials
Publish Date: 7/15/2008
DMV has been lax with information
A recent state auditor’s report revealed that your driver’s license information is not as secure in the state’s hands as you might think, and not just because of lax controls that allow people to acquire licenses illegally. The Motor Vehicle Division has not been performing comprehensive criminal background checks on prospective employees, and until a state audit revealed the lapse, at least 33 former employees maintained access to the division’s computers.
Additionally, the state auditor’s office revealed the following deficiencies:
Supervisors have not always conducted required verification checks of applicants’ “identity, driving status and lawful presence.”
Controls for protecting the identities of the deceased have been inadequate. In 24 cases, auditors found that identities of the deceased had been used to obtain driver’s licenses or other types of identification.
The division has lacked the ability to track employee activities in the Drivers License Information System, making it difficult “for the Department to identify anomalous practices, such as examiners issuing licenses and IDs after business hours.”
Data transmissions have not been protected. The auditor found “that the Department (of Revenue) transmits personally identifiable information in approximately 100 large data batches in clear text, without encryption.”
The division already is addressing some of the problems, such as cutting off access to former employees and working on an encryption system. Still, that the personal information of so many Coloradans has been exposed is chilling. Solutions that can be enacted now should be. That includes appropriate background checks on prospective employees and following proper procedure for verifying identities.
It will take more than a periodic external audit to see that the personal information of Coloradans is protected. It will take vigilance on the part of those entrusted to operate our Motor Vehicle Division.
