Ana Ceballos
The private information of nearly 1,000 individuals was mishandled by the state’s Division of Elections as it responded to a public records request last year, making it the second time in four months that a state agency has compromised the private information of Floridians.
State officials said Friday that the last four digits of the social security number of 945 individuals were sent in error to a member of the public.
The department has notified all the individuals whose confidential information was released by mistake.
While officials say there is no reason to believe their private information has been misused, they are offering those affected a year-long membership to an identity theft protection service.
Earlier this month, officials with the Agency of Health Care Administration confirmed that the medical records and personal information of up to 30,000 people enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program may have been compromised after a data breach.
The incident in that agency stemmed from a state employee opening a malicious phishing email. The data breach exposed the Social Security numbers, dates of birth, Medicaid ID numbers and private health care information of clients.
