The city of Roanoke notified people who may have been impacted by a data security incident from May the issue in late August.
According to a statement from the city Friday afternoon, a phishing email compromised a city email account May 6. Phishing emails pretend to be legitimate in order to trick people to gain access to sensitive information.
The city locked access to the account May 7, and contacted its insurance company to launch an investigation, which it did on or May 11. The investigation "determined that the phishing software looked at the employee’s email contacts for the purpose of harvesting email login credentials."
"Out of an overabundance of caution, notifications went out to everyone whose sensitive information was present in the compromised account," the statement reads.
One notification letter, sent to local attorney Mel Williams, which he shared with local media, states that a "a malicious actor "gained unauthorized access to departmental data."
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Cardinal News first reported the data breach.
The letter sent to Williams states that it is possible Williams' full name, or first initial and last name combined with his social security number, passport number or financial account information "may have been seen or accessed."
The letter states that the city has not received any indication that the information was misused by any unauthorized individual.
The letter states the investigation is ongoing, and that the city reported the incident to federal and state agencies.
In its statement, the city said notifications from the insurance company were issued months after the breach due to the amount of data investigated, and that the city is working with the insurance company on ways to expedite their notifications as part of the incident review process.
Williams said Friday that he isn't aware of any issues the incident may have caused, but that he also had no reason to pay close attention to his credit report over the past few months.
"It's very concerning, and we certainly will be making efforts to monitor our credit over the coming months," Williams said.
Nora Shelly (540) 981-3331
nora.shelly@roanoke.com
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