Trish Bennett, Editor
CIRCLEVILLE – Some Pickaway County residents are part of about 50,000 taxpayers statewide affected by a data security breach through the Regional Income Tax Agency (RITA).
Although an exact number was not available, RITA estimates less than 400 Pickaway County residents were affected, according to Amy L. Arrighi, chief legal counsel for RITA, which handles income tax collection for municipalities including the city of Circleville and various villages throughout the county.
Affected taxpayers are being notified by mail of the incident, Arrighi said, and RITA is offering free credit monitoring and identity protection services through Experian for one year to the residents involved in the breach. Details on enrolling in those programs is provided in the notification letter.
The incident reportedly began Nov. 10, 2015, when RITA discovered a DVD containing tax documents and personal information submitted prior to June 2012 was missing, according to an official release. The DVD was part of the agency’s computer back-up system and was set to be destroyed securely after a recent upgrade to its back-up process.
The DVD may have included a limited number of taxpayer names, addresses, Social Security numbers and possibly dates of birth. If financial information was included with the municipal income tax documents, this may also have been contained on the DVD.
More information about the security issue can be found at www.ritaohio.com or by calling 1-866-940-3613.
This article originally appeared on The Pickaway News Journal
