600 City of Muncie employees hit by "data privacy incident" that exposed SSN

MUNCIE — The City of Muncie is alerting hundreds of employees of a data breach that their exposed their personal information, including W2 documents.

In a letter dated August 8, Mayor Dan Ridenour informed city workers of a “data privacy incident” that happened on July 12.

“We discovered that certain W2 documents had been inadvertently emailed to an unintended recipient due to a sophisticated social engineering scheme,” read the letter. “As a result, your W2 information may have been subject to unauthorized access.”

W-2 forms show the income you earned the previous year and what taxes were withheld.

They also contain personal information like Social Security numbers.

RELATED | How scammers sell your personal information on the dark web

The mayor said they worked with law enforcement and conducted a thorough investigation and found first and last names, as well as Social Security numbers were exposed.

“While we have no reason to believe that this information has been or will be misused, we are providing you with notification in an abundance of caution,” read the letter.

The city is offering credit monitoring services to its employees for 12 months.

WATCH | Feds allege financial firm ran $300M Ponzi scheme to fund CEO's lavish lifestyle

“We recommend that you remain vigilant in regularly reviewing and monitoring all of your account statements and credit history to guard against any unauthorized transactions or activity,” read the letter.

WRTV Investigates has contacted to the city to find out how many employees were impacted by the incident.

“Approximately 600 employees were impacted, there is no need for concern by the general public and we do not have a statement at this time,” said Amber Greene, a spokesperson for the city.

RELATED | Growing number of schools victims of cyberattacks

In Indiana, a new law took effect in July 2021 that requires schools and local government agencies to report cybersecurity incidents to the state’s Office of Information Technology within 48 hours.

Indiana is one of only 10 states with a law requiring local government