Personal information for nearly 85,000 North Carolina state employees was mistakenly uploaded to an internal portal, state officials said.

A file containing the names, Social Security numbers and employment information of 84,860 employees was uploaded to an internal website that is accessible to other state employees, the Department of Information Technology and Office of State Human Resources announced in a news release last week.

The file was discovered July 30 during a “sweep for personally identifiable information on the state’s network” and was immediately removed, officials said. The News & Observer reported that a letter to affected current and former employees states that the file had been accessible since May 2020.

The public didn’t have access to the file, and there’s no evidence that it was accessed by anyone besides the employees who identified and fixed the issue, the state said. But the letter said the “chance that the file was improperly accessed” can’t be ruled out.

Affected employees will be given free identity theft resolution services for two years, the release said.

 

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