Bad read: Boston Water and Sewer contractor Alcara Technologies lost a hard drive containing customer data, while working on the commission’s remote meter reading system.

Galen Moore
Web Editor- Boston Business Journal

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A hard drive containing customer data has gone missing at the Boston Water and Sewer Commission, officials report. Officials said it’s unlikely the missing data would lead to any misuse of personal information.

The data on the drive includes otherwise publicly available data such as customer names, addresses, phone numbers, account and meter numbers, WCVB reports.

According to WCVB, the hard drive does not contain social security numbers, financial data or state license or identification numbers.

A contractor, Aclara Technologies, was using the data to update the Commission’s remote meter reading system, and notified the Water and Sewer Commission of the breach.

Yesterday, Connecticut officials reported EMC Corp. had suffered a similar data breach while doing contract work for Hartford Hospital. In that case, sensitive data associated with about 9,000 patient accounts has been compromised.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/mass_roundup/2012/08/boston-water-and-sewer-data-breach.html