Printer Blamed for Breach of Data

CHICAGO—The city school system here and a suburban commercial printer are being sued by a former teacher over the inadvertent release of personal information through a mailing, which included names, addresses and social security numbers.

Mark Cohen filed suit with the Circuit Court, according to the Associated Press, claiming the mistake involved personal information of more than 1,700 former Chicago public school employees, which could be leveraged by identity thieves.

All Printing & Graphics was contracted by the school system to print and mail a packet of health insurance information to former employees, according to the AP. The printer allegedly mailed a spreadsheet of personal information that had been used to generate mailing labels, mistaking it for a list of healthcare providers.

The suit asks for an endowment fund to be set up by the school district to pay for financial losses, and to cease distributing documents containing social security numbers.