May 19, 2021 |
Two members of Governor Mark Gordon’s cabinet have resigned in the wake of the massive data breach that exposed the medical records of more than a one-fourth of Wyoming’s residents.
Michael Ceballos stepped down as director of the state health department. Chief Information Officer Gordon Knopp, the state’s top high-tech person, also resigned. Governor Mark Gordon made the announcement Tuesday in a statement announcing their interim replacements.
The data breach exposed COVID-19, influenza and blood alcohol test data from 164,000 Wyomingites and some out of state residents collected over a 14-month period, from January of 2020 to March 3rd, 2021.
The data, including name, address, date of birth, medical service and medical test results, was exposed when an employee uploaded health records to a public platform, Github. Health department officials said last month that at least some of the information was downloaded by unknown parties before they became aware of the breach.
In yesterday’s shakeup of his cabinet, Governor Gordon named Deputy Director Stefan Johansson as Interim Director of the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) and Information Services Administrator Timothy Sheehan as Interim Chief Information Officer of the Department of Enterprise Technology Services.
