Personal information for Manitoba farmers who have crop insurance through Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC) was mistakenly shared in an email to 134 farms, says the CEO of MASC.
“As part of a regular course of business, producers who have completed their Seeded Acreage Report online are emailed a package of information for the new crop year. In sending this email to one group of clients, a MASC employee accidentally attached a spreadsheet containing your personal information,” says Jared Munro, in an email sent to AgriInsurance clients in Manitoba on Monday.
He says the information in the spreadsheet included producer names, addresses, telephone numbers, fax numbers, email addresses, and contract numbers, but did not include social insurance numbers nor financial information.
Munro says he was notified of the email mistake on May 26.
“When I was made aware of the error, the email was immediately recalled; however, this does not automatically delete the email from the recipient’s inbox. A follow-up email was sent to the clients who received the documents in error asking them to disregard the information and delete the email in question,” he says.
While MASC has training in place regarding the handling of personal information, Munro says the incident was simply an error.
“I sincerely apologize for this error and I am carefully reviewing the actions to ensure we do what we can to prevent situations such as this from occurring again.”