[BreachExchange] PFD application is back online, one week after data breach

[Destry Winant]

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2019/01/08/pfd-application-is-back-online-one-week-after-data-breach/

JUNEAU — The online application for Permanent Fund dividends is back
online, one week after an apparent technical flaw exposed the personal
information of some applicants, but some applicants were still
reporting problems.

By 5 p.m. Tuesday, more than 17,300 people had applied for the
dividend, according to the Permanent Fund Dividend Division’s online
counter.

Tuesday’s issues appeared to be less severe than what some applicants
faced Jan. 1.

On that date, some Alaskans said their applications automatically
filled in with another person’s personal data, including birth dates,
bank account information, Social Security numbers and contact
information.

Anne Weske, director of the dividend division, said last week that the
application was online for about 30 minutes before being taken
offline.

On Tuesday, some applicants said on social media that they experienced
problems with the electronic signature portion of the application —
specifically, that the online application was not notifying applicants
that their signature has been processed.

“My session timed out after signing electronically,” Roger Galliett of
Anchorage wrote on Facebook.

Several users who reported the problem said a return trip to the
website revealed that the application had been submitted.

Reached in her office Tuesday afternoon, Weske said the division is
aware of the issues and is fixing them. Small technical problems arise
every year, she said, and Alaskans who apply later typically encounter
fewer problems because the division’s technical experts are constantly
receiving error reports and fixing issues.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Daily News asked Revenue Commissioner Bruce
Tangeman how many people had been affected by the Jan. 1 errors.

“We took the website down within a matter of a half an hour. The clock
when we took it down was under 100 folks. That doesn’t mean all 100
were affected by this incident,” he said.

When asked how the error happened, Tangeman said, “We are going to do
a root-cause analysis. That’s the next step. Step No. 1 was to get the
problem fixed, get the trust back that the site is safe for Alaskans
and get the process rolling. So that’s what we’re going through
today.”

In the week since the Jan. 1 error, Tangeman said staff at the
Department of Revenue — parent agency of the dividend division —
worked with staff from the Office of Information Technology in the
Department of Administration to identify the programming flaw that
caused the error, then laboriously ran through tests to ensure it had
been corrected.

Weske said “millions” of tests were conducted before the application
process reopened.

The 2019 dividend garnered particular attention during last year’s
gubernatorial election, and Gov. Mike Dunleavy has fulfilled a
campaign promise by proposing a dividend along the lines of the
statutory formula used before 2016.

The Alaska Legislature will have the final say on the amount of the
dividend, but if lawmakers approve Dunleavy’s plan to appropriate
$1.94 billion from the Alaska Permanent Fund for the state’s dividend
account, there would be enough money to deliver a dividend of more
than $3,000 per person if 615,590 dividends are paid out, as was the
case in 2017.

In a conversation with reporters ahead of a Tuesday afternoon cabinet
meeting, Dunleavy said he will also seek to pay a retroactive dividend
equivalent to the difference between the statutory dividend formula
and the amount paid to Alaskans in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Former Gov.
Bill Walker vetoed a portion of the 2016 payment, and the Legislature
reduced it in 2017 and 2018.

An estimate by state Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage and a
supporter of the retroactive payment, indicates it would amount to an
additional $3,733 for an Alaskan eligible all three years. The cost of
the additional dividend would be in excess of $2 billion, money that
would be taken from the Permanent Fund.

Wielechowski’s proposal to pay a supplemental dividend as well as a
separate proposal to enshrine the dividend in the Alaska Constitution
were among the prefiled bills unveiled Monday.