ALBANY, N.Y. – New York state officials froze portions of a state Web site that identity thieves could have used to access the Social Security numbers of some New Yorkers — including billionaire developer Donald Trump.
The Department of State's Web site led to commercial loan documents where the numbers could be found with a simple name search. It took the department more than three hours to block access to the documents after The Associated Press alerted officials to the problem.
The forms are posted by the department to let lenders know the current financial status of loan recipients.
The posted information also included the Social Security numbers of many farmers who had previously taken out loans for farm equipment and machinery.
It was unclear late Friday how long the information was available on the site, and the Department of State did not immediately return calls seeking clarification.
Trump was traveling and could not immediately be reached for comment.
The postings were discovered by B.J. Ostergren, a Virginia privacy rights activist.
In January, the Vermont Secretary of State's office took down similar Internet links to business files that contained the Social Security numbers of individuals.
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