Data of State Employees compromised

The South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce  is notifying more than 4,600 employees after learning their personal information, including names, addresses, birthdates, and Social Security numbers, was improperly downloaded onto a mobile storage device. The state department said the information download occurred on Dec. 18, and officials were notified by security software right away. The State Law Enforcement Division launched an investigation the following day and recovered the device with the information still on it.  The unidentified employee was fired on Tuesday. The agency said the employee was authorized to view the human resources information, but was not allowed to download it onto an unencrypted device. The Department of Employment and Workforce said they do not believe the employee intended to steal the information, but also did not have permission to download the information and did not follow protocol for encrypting the information. No charges have been filed.