GUTTENBERG AND BEYOND — Residents of Guttenberg’s subsidized public housing projects are afraid their personal information could be misused now that the Guttenberg Housing Authority sent them mysterious letters last week saying a computer security breach allowed “an unauthorized individual” access to their personal files, including Social Security and credit card data.
However, GHA officials declined to comment when asked to elaborate. Residents who visited the office also claimed that many of their questions went unanswered. Some residents said they were told to alert their banks and credit card companies to make sure no one had used their personal information.
The Hudson Reporter was notified by a resident of the GHA, who preferred to speak anonymously, about a letter dated July 8 but received by residents only last weekend. It was sent from a post office box in Bedminster, N.J. with a return address of “GHA Inquiries.”
“The Guttenberg Housing Authority is writing to notify you of a security incident at the GHA,” it states. “Specifically, it was recently discovered that an unauthorized individual misappropriated names and other identifying information of the GHA housing applicants and residents. The GHA has determined that the breach occurred in late December 2009 and in some instances may have included corresponding Social Security numbers.”
Various requests and phone calls to GHA officials were not returned. The GHA has suffered from other problems this year as well (see related links below to other Reporter stories).
When the federal department of Housing and Urban Development, which has oversight over the GHA, was asked about the letters last week, they responded — also somewhat mysteriously — “HUD was made aware of this situation, but it is HUD’s policy to refrain from commenting on matters in which litigation is pending or threatened to avoid prejudicing of the parties.”
Read more about this dilemma in this weekend’s print edition of the North Bergen Reporter, incorporating Guttenberg, or scroll down on www.hudsonreporter.com starting Sunday.
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