Exclusive: Parole Board commits serious privacy breach after board member loses USB stick on plane

Flash drive on a laptop keyboard.

The Parole Board has admitted to a serious privacy breach involving the names and details of 37 offenders, plus a victim, after a board member lost a USB stick on a plane three weeks ago.

The memory drive contained the personal briefing notes made by a Parole Board member, ahead of several days of parole hearings held at Otago Corrections Facility last month.

1 NEWS understands the notes included names, details of the crimes committed, plus rehabilitation programmes they may have been involved with since.

The member flew back from Dunedin to Hamilton on November 13 th , and later realised the memory drive was missing.  Air New Zealand searched the craft the following day, but wasn’t able to locate the device.

Letters have been sent to the 38 individuals whose privacy was breached, including an apology.

The Parole Board says they’ve already fielded a number of complaints from those identified in the briefing notes, with a spokeswoman saying they’ve “registered they're upset”.

The board says there is no evidence to suggest that anyone’s found the device, or accessed the information contained on it.

Sir Ron Young, chairman of the New Zealand Parole Board issued a statement to 1 NEWS, and said the organisation is taking the incident extremely seriously, and that every effort was made to locate the device.

“As a result of this incident I have reminded board members the requirement to ensure all sensitive information is handled in a manner that maintains privacy and security,” he said.

The Office of the Privacy Commission has also confirmed it has been notified of the breach.

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