FEMA data leak exposes data of 2.3 million disaster victims.

On March 22, 2019, the Department of Homeland Security revealed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) improperly released the personal information of 2.3 million survivors of hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, as well as survivors of the California wildfires in 2017, to an unidentified contractor.

The incident.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Homeland Security released a report revealing that 20 data fields were unnecessarily shared with the contractor, including sensitive details such as the survivors’ home addresses, bank names, electronic funds transfer numbers, and bank transit numbers. The victims were enrolled in a program called Transitional Sheltering Assistance, which provides hotels to people displaced by disasters.

FEMA has violated federal privacy laws and Homeland Security policy by sharing unnecessary data to the contractor. The OIG report said that the agency had requested the contractor to remove the data from its system and has instructed its staff to undergo security awareness training.

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