State's online records pose risk ID data accessible on deeds documents
By Joe Light, Globe Correspondent
Hackers uploaded a virus to siphon off credit card information from CardSystems Solutions Inc. Thieves posed as legitimate businesses to purchase personal information from ChoicePoint Inc. But a search of state records posted online and easily accessible by the public reveals that thieves would not have to go through nearly that much trouble to steal the identities of many Massachusetts residents.
Tax liens, mortgage papers, deeds, and other real estate-related documents are publicly available in online databases run by registries of deeds across the state. The Globe found documents in free databases of all but three Massachusetts counties containing the names and Social Security numbers of Massachusetts residents.
Public documents that sometimes contain names and Social Security numbers include state and federal tax liens, Massachusetts Health liens, child support liens, and, less frequently, mortgages, said registers of deeds.
Although registers of deeds said that they are unaware of cases in which criminals used information from their databases maliciously, the information contained in the documents would be more than enough to steal an identity and open new lines of credit, said Eric Bourassa, a consumer advocate with the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group who deals with identity theft issues.