MNsure parts ways with employee in security breach

MNsure officials say a worker who inadvertently sent the Social Security numbers of hundreds of Minnesota insurance agents to another broker is no longer employed at MNsure.

They declined to say whether the employee had been fired or transferred to another state agency.

At a MNsure board meeting today, officials called the breach extraordinarily serious but emphasized it did not involve MNsure's I.T. system, where consumers will be entering their personal information so they can shop insurance on the state's new online marketplace.

Minnesota's Chief Information Officer, Carolyn Parnell said the system has the latest security protections.

"And even when the system is launched, security doesn't end," Parnell said. "It's just something that's an ongoing responsibility that we have."

MNsure officials say the number of agents whose information was involved in the breach was closer to 1,500, not the 2,400 originally reported.

Still, board member Dr. Kathryn Duevel said MNsure needs to clearly explain the online marketplace's level of security to the general public.

"I'm really concerned because these are the people who need it the most desperately, who may be the least able to understand," she said.

MNsure officials say they're conducting a desk-to-desk review to make sure employees are following data security policies.