Madison’s City Clerk office accidentally released 50 social security numbers online of people applying for liquor licenses for Madison establishments, their office announced Thursday.

According to a city of Madison statement, a city employee discovered on Dec. 19 that a liquor license
application packet on a city website contained a social security
number. The city immediately shut down the legislative Information
Center website and found other applications that contained social
security numbers and personal information, according to the statement. 

Social security numbers were found on
17 applications, some containing more than one social security
number, for a total of at least 50 accidentally released numbers, the statement said.

Because of this leak, the City Clerk’s
office has changed its policy by putting less of the
application online and will now request less personally-identifiable information, according to the statement.

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said the city
has worked hard to make sure the date of birth and other personal
information is not released. Verveer, who sits on the Alcohol
License Review Committee, said the parts of applications for liquor
licenses that contain personal information are not put online. They
are printed out in hard copy, which only a small number of city
workers have access to, he said. 

“We have to remain optimistic that
criminals aren’t spending their time studying the city legislative
website,” Verveer said. “It’s a pretty dry website that your average criminal isn’t looking at. It’s an unusual location to find
a social security number.”

Forms generally do not have social
security numbers on them, Verveer said. He said tthe only ones that do have been
discontinued. 

The City Clerk’s office has contacted
potential victims individually and warn them, Verveer said. So far, none of the potential victims’ identities have been compromised, he added.

“We’ve come a long way on this issue
of identity theft,” Verveer said. “I’ve served on ALRC where no
one even thought of it as an issue, to where we are today where 50
social security numbers are compromised.”

Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8, said
one of the things we can learn from this is the dangers of having all
the attachments on applications released, especially when we cannot review all of the information in them.

He said luckily, it was isolated information,
and city workers and the City Clerk have checked all areas of
vulnerability.

“Mistakes do happen with technology, especially when information like this is released,” Resnick said.
“I believe they have taken the necessary step to prevent this from
happening in future.”