Woodstock employee 'accidentally' sends out personal info of employees to someone outside city - Shaw Local

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About 150 staff members for the city of Woodstock had their personal information, including their Social Security numbers, sent out by accident in mid-October to someone not involved in the city’s operations, officials said.

The file, which was password-protected, along with the password, were “inadvertently sent to an unintended recipient” in two separate emails, according to an Oct. 20 letter sent from City Manager Roscoe Stelford to both full- and part-time staff members.

“While I am unaware of any actual or attempted misuse of the information, the city takes this incident very seriously,” according to the letter from Stelford.

The information sent included the names of the employees, their dates of birth, type of position, salary and Social Security numbers, according to the letter.

Stelford on Friday said the file was supposed to be sent to a party for the purpose of employee benefits. The person who ended up receiving the file and password was not a malicious person, and it wasn’t obtained through a scam.

“It was purely accidental,” Stelford said. “It’s just unfortunate.”

Stelford declined to comment on the person or department the accident originated from, as well as any ramifications for the employee. He said those matters are dealt with internally and not shared.

After learning about the incident, the city contacted the person who received the file through multiple channels, including with an official notice from the city’s attorney, according to the letter. They asked the person to verify they had destroyed the information.

Stelford declined to comment on who the person was, only confirming that they were not involved in the city’s operations.

Mayor Mike Turner said the city will learn from the incident and improve the city’s processes “so it doesn’t happen again.”

“Data confidentiality is always important to us,” Turner said. “It’s something always very much in our minds and something we pay attention to.”

To avoid any similar mishap, the city reviewed its process and is changing its methods for sending out files required by outside vendors in the future, Stelford said. It’s “the best thing you can do” when this type of incident happens, he said.

Those files going forward will be transferred using a “secure, password-protected internal server,” with the passwords being given through a phone call to the intended person, according to the letter.

The letter also offers employees contact information for the three credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion – along with the Federal Trade Commission.

Stelford said some employees have expressed concerns about the matter, but he hopes those concerns have been alleviated, emphasizing that no one involved was being “malicious.”

Turner said he hasn’t had any employees come to him personally but said they are always welcome to.

“We took it very seriously, and we believe it’s been resolved with minimal impact to our workforce,” Stelford said.

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