VA: Error exposes town residents' tax info online

[kirniki <kirniki () gmail com>]

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2009/04/03/4104832.htm

Personal information for 7,845 town taxpayers was exposed on the
Internet last weekend due to a vendor's mistake, town officials said
late Thursday.

In a statement, town manager Jeff Muzzy said the problem was
discovered March 27 and the information was removed by March 30.

"It is regrettable situation," Muzzy said. "The town is doing
everything in its power to notify the taxpayers and ensure that
personal information is protected by vendors contracted by the town."
According to Muzzy, the unidentified vendor had the records to
reformat the town's personal property tax file for billing purposes.

In a letter dated today that's due to be mailed to town taxpayers and
posted on the town's Web site, Muzzy wrote that the files containing
the names, addresses and Social Security numbers of residents were on
a password-protected site that was compromised.

[..]
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