PSC To Improve Web Site Security Measures
Public Service Commission--PSC To Improve Web Site Security Measures
The Public Service Commission (PSC) is taking measures to improve the security of its online job application process, after a technical mistake left some resumes accessible in random searches of the government Web site in recent weeks.
"We very much regret that personal information may have been accessible on the government Web site even for a short time," said Gordon Balser, Minister of the Public Service Commission. "I want to apologize to anyone who may have been affected, and assure them we are taking steps to see it doesn't happen again."
The PSC was notified of the problem on Feb. 26, by a Toronto reporter for a human resources industry publication. She had been searching government Web sites as part of a story on privacy issues. The problem was immediately fixed.
A full technical investigation is under way, but the problem has been linked to upgrades made to the Employment Opportunities Bulletin on Jan. 8. Incorrect indexing and security permissions were assigned to one storage folder on the government Web server.
No other folders on the government server were affected.
The PSC had not received any other privacy complaints on this issue before Feb. 26. It is not known how many job applications might have been accessed in searches done since Jan. 8. There are usually fewer than 200 in the system on any given day, and some backup files were also stored.
The potential for any one application to get accessed depends on the results of a specific keyword search. The government Web site gets more than four million hits a month, and there are more than 500,000 hits to the Employment Opportunities Bulletin in a month.
"Security and confidentiality of personal information is very important in everything we do, and the Web site is only one part of that, " said Mr. Balser. "We are always working to maintain and enhance privacy and security on all government Web sites."
This problem did not affect the receipt of applications from the Employment Opportunities Bulletin, which were downloaded each day, or applications that had been dropped off or mailed to the commission.
The government of Nova Scotia is about to introduce a new Web site privacy policy, which will include training on security and privacy procedures. A full test of the government Web site was conducted last summer to identify areas to improve security and privacy.