The confidential data of New York City residents who applied for the municipal affordable housing lottery program may have been exposed in a data breach.
CBS News reports a website used to internally sort applications in the city’s Housing Connect lottery program emerged in search engine results for applicants’ names – often topping the result lists on Microsoft Bing, Yahoo and Duck Duck Go. Hundreds of thousands of applications dating back years were found impacted, with viewable information including contact data, salaries and, in some cases, Social Security numbers.
The city’s Housing Preservation and Development Department, which oversees the Housing Connect program, stated there was no evidence that the platform was hacked.
The online platform at the center of the breach is managed by Reside New York, a third-party vendor. In a statement, Executive Director Sam Rosenberg said, “We are reviewing the situation to understand what occurred and to ensure appropriate safeguards remain in place. At this time, the information in question is not accessible online, and we are taking all necessary steps to protect the privacy of our applicants.”
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