Theft Protection

Around 22,000 Social Security numbers of Delaware state government retirees have been inadvertently posted online by a government contractor.

Aon Consulting included the Social Security numbers, gender and birthdates of about 22,000 Delaware state government retirees in a request for proposals for insurance companies interested in providing vision coverage to employees and retirees.  Retirees affected included teachers, state police and the judiciary.

That information was posted on the state’s procurement website, a mistake that went undetected for from August 16th to August 20th.  The information was taken down once it was discovered.

Aon is a multinational corporation with offices in more than 120 countries.

Insurers need age and other information on the pool of people to be covered in order to prepare a bid, Aon Consulting spokesman Joe Micucci said Monday.  He said that is normally done by using a random series of digits assigned to individuals to shield their identity, not their Social Security numbers.

However, “the information that should have been randomized was not,” Micucci said.

Letters are being sent to affected individuals who will be offered one year of free credit monitoring.  The company also will provide the retirees information on the steps needed to place a fraud alert on their files.

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