TAMPA, Fla. – Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced a public assistance fraud task force on Wednesday.
What we know:
The task force is aimed at targeting and investigating individuals accused of stealing from programs like SNAP, EBT, renter’s assistance and Medicaid.
Assistant State Prosecutor Scott Strauss has been appointed to spearhead the effort.
Attorney General James Uthmeier stated this task force is slated to help taxpayers that are willingly helping and giving to those in need.
“Here in Florida — the free state of Florida — we do everything the best we can, but there’s no doubt still fraud and criminal activity taking place here,” Uthmeier said.
Uthmeier said the task force is focused on finding those who take advantage of or are ineligible for public assistance programs.
Scammers are increasingly using new technology to track EBT cards and steal…
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.