Politics & Government

Town Investigates Downloads of Posted Social Security Numbers

File accessed by 5 people a total of 9 times over five-day period.

Brookhaven Town officials say an investigation in underway to find and identify those people who downloaded documents mistakenly posted with 87 Social Security numbers. 

Supervisor Ed Romaine and Town Attorney Annette Eaderesto said the town has discovered a "minimal' number of people downloaded a pdf file posted to the town's website that contained the Social Security numbers for 87 ambulance workers and their beneficiaries. 

"We have located the [IP] addresses of people who downloaded it, we are trying to identify that through our investigators," Eaderesto said. 

The town attorney said the town is researching those 5 IP addresses that accessed the document a total of 9 times over the five days it was online.

Meanwhile, the town is working with its insurance company to offer full credit monitoring to those individuals who may be affected. There are no reports of possible fraud resulting from the posting as of Thursday noon, according to Eaderesto. 

"If anyone used them for the wrong purposes, we are going to pursue that," Romaine said.  

Town officials had obtained the volunteers' Social Security numbers to approve and process longevity benefits provided by the state. The town' mistake in posting personal information was brought up at the June 4 town board meeting.

"It was an unfortunate error. Everyone makes mistakes. We feel badly about it," Eaderesto said. 

The town attorney said six out of the seven ambulance chiefs in Town of Brookhaven were notified immediately

However, it wasn't the first time. 

Town officials found 2010 documents available on the town's website that contained 34 Social Security numbers posted online since March 19, 2010. Eaderesto believes the document may not have been publically accessible. 

Romaine said the town's investigation will also look into which employees were responsible for personal information being posted publicly, and may result in disciplinary action or reassignment. 

Town officials vow "immediate" changes are being made to process of putting documents online and computer system. It has increased the number of personnel reviewing documents for security from one to three individuals, with the legal department having final approval. 

The town is also seeking to have a fail safe mechanism built into their computer software, according to Romaine. 


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