Audit: Personal information for DCF's work-from-home employees at-risk

ORLANDO, Fla. — 9 Investigates uncovered a new report that shows the Department of Children and Families may not be doing enough to keep your personal information safe.

WFTV's Nancy Alvarez spent Monday reading through the extensive audit and found a lot of the concerns fall on DCFemployees who work from home.

About 1,300 DCF workers statewide work from home, including counselors who pick up the phone when people call Florida's Abuse Hotline.

The audit found that in several cases, DCF was not keeping track of state-owned computers assigned to those employees and some important information about the employees themselves.

The auditors randomly picked 40 employees and looked through their personnel files. Proper background checks were missing in 32 of those cases, Alvarez learned.

The auditors also found the agency didn't have the required paperwork to show which computers were assigned to at least 11 active "work from home" employees and 14 who had either been terminated or transferred.

Another item found was that sensitive, personal information was not being deleted from computers that were turned in or turned over to someone else.

Auditors also raised a red flag about Social Security numbers; DCF has 203 forms that ask for a Social Security number, but the agency has no written policy on how to use and store that information.

Policies are required by state law.

One document also includes DCF's response in which the agency said it is working to address the issues and that some should be resolved within 90 days.

WFTV