If you have lived in the city of Muskogee, Oklahoma and you paid a utility bill, your information may be at risk

A citizen found a diskette with an official city label on it and returned it to authorities.

City officials believe that the zip disk was mixed up with surplus computer supplies that were handled by previous directors handling the office equipment.

It is believed that the information on the disk was not handled inappropriately. It included names, addresses, and some social security numbers of residents of Muskogee, mostly accounts between the year 2000 and the year 2007. Some of the addresses are of residents who have moved, but city officials are going to do their best to contact everyone and anyone that may have been affected. The disk is believed to contain some 4,500 accounts.

Generally, sensitive information is destroyed, but the city clerk believes it was an honest mistake that the diskette made it into a box with other surplus office supplies. The current director at Muskogee is aware of the issue, and has stated that he follows proper procedure when it comes to destruction of personal data.

Though we don’t know if the disk has or will get in to the hands of an identity thief it is still a good idea to check your credit reports for accuracy and enroll in one of the credit monitoring services we compare.