Harbor Board sails sensitive credit card information to local TV activist

Half Moon Bay Review/Mark Noack, 12/19/13.  "Harbor officials explain suspicious credit card bills."

Harbor District's far out financial paperwork

"The San Mateo County Harbor District is canceling its employee credit cards after accidentally releasing sensitive information on all the accounts while fulfilling a public records request.  The credit card accounts were compromised earlier this week when the district began complying with a records request for information on district expenditures. Local activist and Citizen Access TV founder John Ullom made the request in November, asking for information on the district’s credit transactions dating back to 2010.

....  The district delivered the first installment of the request earlier this week, sending Ullom more than 60 pages of statements for the first six months of 2010. A district employee apparently tried to redact the credit card numbers, but the scanned pages still clearly show the 16-digit numbers on dozens of occasions.  ....  “You just provided me with 14 credit card numbers and all the data I need to go on a shopping spree,” he (John Ullom) wrote to Harbor District General Manager Peter Grenell. “If I was inclined to use the data in an unauthorized manner, I could have.”
 

....   The billing release comes at a time when the harbor district’s financials are being put under the magnifying glass. Earlier this month, the district’s bookkeeping received a clean bill of health in an independent auditor’s report. However, Ullom and other critics say the district has not been forthcoming when asked about its monthly revenues and expenses. Ullom said he filed his records requests after being disappointed with how the district handled a pile of missing checks and errors in its autobilling system uncovered earlier this year."   Read article.

Note:  photograph from Practical Boat Owner, UK.

Posted by Kathy Meeh