Florida Releases Personal Data Of 13,000 People
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Governor Rick Scott's administration said they inadvertently released confidential information of 13,000 private citizens.
According to our news partners the Miami Herald, this is the second time this has happened in two months.
Department of State officials said they released the names, dates of birth and social security numbers of those who were on waiting lists for services for the developmentally disabled in 2003.
The information was included in emails the state had released last year to Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush as part of his move to show transparency amid his possible run for the White House in 2016.
Bush had created a website and posted 333,000 emails that included the people's information.
Last Friday, the department accepted responsibility for releasing the information to Bush.
A spokeswoman for Bush said in February, that it removed all of the protected information it could from the site jebemails.com.
In response to the release, the Department of State is urging those affected to review their credit histories.
The state also hired a private company to provide free identity theft protection to those whose Social Security number was released.
The state is urging anyone who believes their information was compromised as part of the release to contact the Department of State at (800) 245-6068.
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