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![TMCNet: Web security breach spurs action by Madison City Clerk's office [The Wisconsin State Journal]](http://images.tmcnet.com/siteart/invisible.gif)
Web security breach spurs action by Madison City Clerk's office [The Wisconsin State Journal]
(Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, WI) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) March 10--The Madison City Clerk's office enacted a series of procedural changes since discovering late last year that a security breach on the city's website exposed 50 Social Security numbers.
A city employee on Dec. 19 found a Social Security number in a liquor license application that was posted on the city's legislative website. The site was immediately shut down for 24 hours while City Clerk employees searched every license application and their attachments dating back to 2005 for personally identifiable information.
The 50 Social Security numbers, which were removed from the city system, were found in 17 liquor license application packets, with most online since 2007.
City Clerk Meribeth Witzel-Behl has since revised the liquor license form to discourage applicants from volunteering personal information and instructed employees never to attach a document to the city's website without reading every word, according to a memo given to the City Council's Organizational Committee.
Witzel-Behl also changed the timing of when all information must be published on the website.
The clerk's office is working with the city attorney's office and alcohol policy coordinator to decide what operator license applicant information, the most personally identifiable information, should be on the website, Witzel-Behl said.
None of the 50 individuals who was affected by the breach reported any identity theft, Witzel-Behl said. As a precaution, the city offered them identity theft protection for one year.
The council's organizational committee wants a report on how all city agencies handle personal information on the city's website.
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(c)2013 The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wis.)
Visit The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wis.) at www.wisconsinstatejournal.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services
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