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County Mistakenly Posts Personal Taxpayer Info OnlineSMITHFIELD, N.C. -- According to WRAL-News, Johnston County officials recently posted personal information for thousands of residents, including Social Security numbers, on the county Website. A resident discovered the official blunder by entering his address into a Google search engine. He was shocked to see his social security number prominently displayed. In addition to seeing his own Social Security number online, the man, who wanted to remain anonymous, said he found another man's name, address, Social Security number and information that he was retired. When the man clicked on the Google link, he was taken to the Johnston County Website, where tax office records displayed thousands of other names and identifying information. "That contains more information than folks would want out there -- cell phone numbers, in some cases I think, Social Security numbers," County Manager Rick Hester said. According to County technology officials, the sensitive information is part of a list the tax office prepares for financial institutions. The information might have been online for fiver or six weeks, officials said. Hester claimed there was something peculiar about the man's address that pulled the information through Google, adding that the information was taken off the county Website shortly after officials learned about it. "I still think it was only accessible by certain ways and certain information people put in there," he said. "I'm so glad it was brought to our attention because when we have problems like that it's our responsibility to get to the bottom of it." Search engines routinely scour the Web to uncover any information that is posted to the Internet. In addition to scouring the Internet, they cache the web pages so that if they cannot be removed by the original source, the pages remain accessible for many years. It is the responsibility of website owners to prevent sensitive information from being published on the website in the first place. According to County Officials, no one has reported identity theft resulting from the mistake, and county officials said they hope that means they caught the problem early enough. Only one in 700 identity thieves are ever caught and victims seldom know where the criminals found their information. Criminals can use or sell the information the County provided for years to come. Hester encouraged people to check their credit reports in the near future. Credit reports may not alert citizens if their identities were used for medical identity theft, criminal identity theft or deed fraud. Illegal aliens have been known to use stolen Social Security numbers undetected for years. Victims only learn of this misuse of their identity when the Internal Revenue Service sends them a bill for income they never earned. Although North Carolina recently enacted a wide-ranging identity-theft protection act requiring state agencies to report security breaches that could put people at risk, Johnston County officials say they aren't required by law to notify the people whose personal information ended up in the public domain. The WRAL report didn't specify why Johnston County officials thought they would be exempt. Other county and state agencies and their technology partners have found themselves on the losing end of class action lawsuits as a result of similar breaches. Johnston County taxpayers should seek legal advice from their own attorneys.
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