Boone County employees warned to check credit after DCS data breach

BOONE COUNTY, Ind. — The Indiana Department of Child Services is investigating after the agency shared an email containing the names of 290 Boone County employees and their Social Security numbers.

On July 21, DCS sent an email containing a spreadsheet with Boone County employee names and Social Security numbers to “unintended recipients,” according to an email sent to Boone County employees.

DCS notified Boone County of the disclosure on July 22, according to the email.

Boone County Attorney Beth Copeland tells Indiana’s I-Team that as part of an annual audit related to federal funding, DCS asked the Auditor’s Officer to produce information.

“That office sent to DCS a document that included a list of employees’ names and social security numbers, as well as other non-protected information,” said Copeland in an email to Indiana’s I-Team. “At this point, I believe the list contained the names of 290 county employees, as this federal program (that works through DCS) reimburses the County for expenses incurred on those employees who assist the program and receive long term disability.”

For some unknown reason, a DCS employee took that email with the attachment and forwarded it to four Boone County employees and two ven...