Source: UPI
WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) — U.S. government officials warn of possible identity theft after the Social Security numbers of 63,000 people were posted on a public Web site.

The officials said Friday the U.S. Census Bureau posted the Social Security numbers thousands of recipients of federal farm loans in an apparent violation of federal law, The Washington Post reported Saturday. ‘We take full responsibility for this and offer no excuses for it,’ said Terri Teuber, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. ‘We absolutely do not think it was appropriate.’ The data, which was posted as part of a U.S. Census Bureau loans database, was removed from the Web site April 13 after an Illinois farmer stumbled on it while searching the Internet and alerted officials. However, the issue was not revealed to the public until Friday because, officials said, information security officials needed time to wipe the information from mirror sites and contact people whose numbers were posted.

However, a watchdog group said the delay was the result of the government attempting to cover up its error. ‘The bottom line is the government screwed up,’ said Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch. ‘What`s really important is that they now try to rectify the problem. Thousands of research groups have copies of this site.’