Admittedly, the state of Ohio shouldn’t be trusting such confidential information to an intern. That simply goes beyond common sense, and yes you’d figure they’d have more secure means to safeguard the tape elsewhere.

As for the intern… while he’s taking a lot of the heat for this, it’s well deserved. While he might not have had a lot to work with, he should have been smarter than to leave the tape in his car. From what I’ve read, it’s not the first time he did so.

As for him being a scapegoat? I hardly agree. He was at fault, however the State of Ohio is also at fault. I believe that if they’re going to ask for resignations, they need to start a lot higher on the food chain.

And I have to agree with many respondents that this was an extremely poor business practice, the concept of sending tapes home with employees as a means of providing protection to backup datasets for business continuity is a HUGE ERROR.

No ones home is designed to provide proper protection for media, and many employees live relatively close to their workplaces, so it wouldn’t be uncommon for them to experience a similar disaster at their homes (flood, earthquake, tornado, hurricane, etc.) Also, the article cited the fact that the employee routinely placed the tapes on top of his TV when he took them into the home… the heat and magnetic field there must have been REAL GOOD for the tape! =)

This employee and any others working elsewhere who are asked to do this as a part of a normal business practice should either refuse involvement, or ask for some letter to be placed in their file absolving them in advance for any possible impact to their employment status as a result of the data being compromised.

If an organization isn’t willing to properly protect their backup tapes and/or vital records to ensure business continuity by having them picked up, transported and stored by a business properly suited to provide this service. BUT… don’t just choose a provider because they might be big, choose one that has trained staff, properly equipped vehicles, tracking systems, and storage spaces that are designed for MEDIA, including providing proper environmental controls, security, and fire protection for your information assets stored on media while under their control.

Bigger isn’t always better… ask any potential service provider if their facilities meet the NFPA232 Standard requirements for media vaulting, if they don’t look elsewhere. And even if they say they do, make sure you visit the facility first!