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Where Was The IT Department?

It was six years ago, during the first Obama administration. We were getting a computer upgrade and the NIU IT people were transferring information from the old to the new computers. Suddenly, they went into a huddle.

They had found some inactive documents that contained Social Security numbers on our system. At one time, Social Security numbers were commonly collected and used by the university, but no longer. Rightly seen as presenting a security risk, Social Security numbers were no longer collected or used.

Yet there they were, long forgotten by us, now spotted by the IT people. A special protocol went into effect. All our computers were scrutinized and cleaned and the situation generated several high level meetings, including the Council of Deans. It was a tense couple of weeks in our office.

At about the same time, the Secretary of State was using a private server to send and receive emails. Lots and lots of emails. A great deal. has been said about this, and no one can pretend it reflects well on Mrs. Clinton. But her correspondents must have known they were sending email to an address that didn't end in dot gov, that clearly was not from a State Department server.

So where were the State Department's IT people? Why didn't they go into a huddle?  Either they didn't know or they didn't think they had a problem. Neither answer is particularly reassuring.

I'm Deborah Booth, and that's my perspective.

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