USDA Exposes 63,000 Private Records

The NYT [via BB] reports today that:

The Social Security numbers of tens of thousands of people who received loans or other financial assistance from two Agriculture Department programs were disclosed for years in a publicly available database, raising concerns about identity theft and other privacy violations.

A later USDA press release provides the specifics:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has narrowed to 63,000 the number of people whose private identification information was accessible to the public on a government-wide website and who will therefore be eligible to register for free credit monitoring services.

The 63,000 people were awarded funds through the Farm Service Agency (FSA) or USDA Rural Development (RD). The FSA programs involved are limited to; Conservation Security Program, Emergency Loan for Seed Producers, Emergency Loans, Farm Labor Housing Loans and Grants, Farm Ownership Loans, Special Apple Program, and the Wetlands Reserve Program.

Free credit monitoring. Nice. Thanks.

UPDATE:
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