MNsure parts ways with employee involved in email security breach

Published 1:19 pm Saturday, September 21, 2013

ST. PAUL — An employee of Minnesota’s health insurance exchange no longer works there after releasing private information about insurance agents.

MNsure executive director April Todd-Malmlov told the agency’s board of directors Friday that the employee violated internal policy by storing unencrypted personal information about Minnesota insurance agents on a computer desktop.

Todd-Malmlov said human resources requirements prevent her from revealing whether the employee was fired or transferred to another state agency.

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Last week, the worker inadvertently emailed Social Security and drivers’ license numbers to an insurance agent in Burnsville, prompting MNsure officials to quickly secure the information and alleviate concerns about privacy of personal information as they prepare to deliver health care to Minnesota residents under the federal overhaul.

The agency said the private information pertained to about 1,600 agents, not 2,400 as originally reported. A memo to board members said some of the names on an initial list were duplicates.