Why Hack Illegally? - Just Go to the Government

We hear all the time of these brilliant hackers breaking into super-secure databases and stealing information for their identity theft schemes, netting them millions and ruining the lives of others.

Now, apparently, there is a better way to commit identity fraud. Just go to a government web site. Specifically, Broward County, Florida, because the public servants in that county are bent on posting sensitive data on their website.

The Social Security numbers, driver's license information and bank account details belonging to potentially millions of current and former residents in Florida's Broward County are available to anyone on the Internet because sensitive information has not been redacted from public records being posted on the county’s Web site.

A county official said the information available on the Web is in full compliance with state statutes that require counties to post public documents on the Internet.

The information has been available on the Internet for several years and poses a serious risk of identity theft and fraud, said Bruce Hogman, a county resident who informed the Broward County Records Division of the problem about two weeks ago.

The breach stems from the county’s failure to redact, or remove, sensitive data from images of public documents such as property records and family court documents, Hogman said. Included in the documents that are publicly available are dates of birth and Social Security numbers of minors, images of signatures, passport numbers, green card details and bank account information.

“Here is the latest treasure trove available to identity thieves, and it is free to the public, courtesy of the Florida state legislature in its great Internet savvy,” Hogman said. The easy availability of such sensitive data also poses a security threat at a time of heightened terrorist concerns, he said.

crime , computer security , identity theft