State Senate Republicans are calling for an oversight hearing on SNAP-EBT fraud in Massachusetts after the Herald reported a whistleblower’s claims of “rampant” and “unabated” fraud within the program and as several other SNAP fraud schemes have been uncovered by the feds and state auditor.
The caucus sent a letter Wednesday to Senate Post Audit and Oversight Committee Chair Sen. Mark Montigny requesting a hearing on “significant and recurring evidence of SNAP EBT fraud, operational failures within the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA), and the Commonwealth’s inability to adequately protect taxpayer funds and program beneficiaries.”
“A recent whistleblower report featured in the Boston Herald and based on the comments of a DTA employee details specific instances of internal dysfunction within DTA amplifies the many reasons for concern with these benefits and the way they…
IT & DATA SECURITY (MITIGATING THE “INSIDER THREAT”)
As seen in the TD Bank case, an employee with too much “access” can sell your customer data to syndicates.
- Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP): Employees should only have access to the specific folders and databases required for their current task.
- Access Revocation: Have a “Termination Checklist” that ensures all digital access (Email, VPN, Banking) is revoked within 60 minutes of an employee resigning or being dismissed.
- System Logs & Audit Trails: Enable “Read/Write Logging” on your server. If a customer’s data is leaked, you need to know exactly which login accessed that record and at what time.
- Encryption at Rest: Ensure that sensitive files (like your customer ID numbers or payroll spreadsheets) are encrypted so that if a staff member copies them to a USB, they cannot be read.