Sensitive info still on state Web site
By Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published September 26, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
The secretary of state's Web site continues to expose individual Social Security numbers on business filings despite a recent round of document removals.
On Sept. 15, the agency removed about 90,000 scanned documents from the site after learning that scores of Coloradan's Social Security numbers had been accessible for nearly 10 months. Officials said that action should fix the problem.
The next day, they learned that more documents showed Social Security numbers. In reaction, they blocked access to all documents known as Uniform Commercial Code financing forms. They said that should fix the problem.
This week, Virginia privacy activist Betty "BJ" Ostergren told the secretary of state's office that still other business documents - in another section of the site - contained Social Security numbers.
Ostergren has been criticizing the office since last year about the problem.
The office said it doesn't know how many in the latest discovery include Social Security numbers. But they appear to be older business filings, including one from 1993 with 28 Social Security numbers of executives from a major U.S. company.
Secretary of state spokesman Richard Coolidge said that his staff is removing documents they find with Social Security numbers. But they won't take further action until new software is installed.
The software, which is being tested, should find Social Security numbers and hide them. Coolidge said he doesn't know when it will be installed.
"We're moving as fast as we can," he said.
Ostergren called the agency's latest response "ridiculous, reckless and irresponsible."
kimm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2361
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