Accidental email spreads Social Security numbers and birthdates of over 1000 employees to other co-workers

An error in the payroll department of the Colorado Department of Corrections has put the personal information of it’s employees at risk. An employee in the payroll department accidentally sent financial records via email to over 100 co-workers instead of the generic insurance benefits information that was originally intended.

The mistake was made in time for employees to delete about half of the messages before they were opened, but the other half were opened and some had already forwarded the information to personal computers.

There has been no disciplinary action taken on the employee that sent the email, but the staff members were notified of the incident in the event of misuse. Employees should monitor their credit reports.