DBO serves improperly redacted licensing records

Apr 3, 2015 18:35 GMT  ·  By

The California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) discovered in mid-March that it released records of some investment advisers and broker-dealers containing fields with unredacted social security numbers.

As per the California Public Records Act (PRA), DBO has to make available, upon request, electronic copies of non-confidential electronic licensing records.

SSNs placed in field reserved for other info

In order to make sure that sensitive information is not disclosed to unauthorized individuals, DBO processes the documents and hides the restricted details.

However, it appears that the organization charged with regulating the activity of multiple financial businesses (investment advisors, and securities brokers and dealers among them), failed to properly check the documents, and leaked the social security numbers (SSN) of an undisclosed number of individuals.

In its defense, the SSNs were typed in the "Docket/Case #" field, which is usually not used for this type of data. The estimated date when the leak occurred is January 5, and it is unclear if improperly redacted records have been served after this day.

Plan is in the works to prevent inadvertent leak of sensitive info

Combined with the right name, SSNs can be used for nefarious purposes, such as filing fraudulent tax returns, which is a popular practice in the US this time of the year.

The organization alerted the impacted individuals in a letter signed by Jan Lynn Owen, DBO Commissioner. She also informs that the organization placed an immediate hold on making the records available in the public domain until further notice.

A plan is being devised by DBO in collaboration with FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), the body that manages the electronic licensing records, to make sure that such disclosures are avoided in the future.

In the meantime, affected individuals should take precautionary measures against potential identity theft activities, which were outlined in the received letter.