Personal info access prompts county records website change

Sep. 28—Niagara County has made a change to its subscription-based online records website in response to a user's discovery of criminal court documents containing social security numbers.

The change, implemented following a review by county officials and the third-party vendor that oversees the system's operation, eliminates subscribers' ability to view criminal court records online.

While names and other information about court proceedings are still viewable on the site, subscribers looking to view criminal court documents on the Search IQS system will now be required to request physical copies through the Niagara County Clerk's Office.

Search IQS serves as a repository for tens of thousands of pieces of legal paperwork and is often used by realtors, lawyers and journalists to search for information about real estate transactions, property tax liens and criminal court proceedings. County officials believe the social security numbers found by the user during a recent search involved court documents only.

In a statement issued in response to questions from the newspaper, Niagara County Attorney Claude Joerg said there was "no indication of any widespread breach of personal data" and that the county has identified the "most likely source of any potential issue" and has addressed it.

"We are also working with the IQS vendor on software solutions that can further limit any exposure," Joerg said in a statement issued to the newspaper by the county's public information officer Kevin Schuler.

Local media outlets, including the Niagara Gazette and Lockport Union-Sun & Journal, were alerted to potential issues with the public release of individuals' private information through the county records website by a member of the family of Katie Riford, the Town of Wheatfield woman who, in 2019, fled to New Mexico with her two children amid a custody battle involving the children's father.

Riford's brother, Kevin, told the newspaper he was recently searching for information on the website when he found a court document with a person's social security number on it. Riford said a more extensive search turned up additional documents containing other people's personal information. Riford said he alerted the media in hopes of drawing attention to the situation, which he described as "quite alarming" as available social security numbers could lead to incidents of identity theft.

Before the county removed subscribers' ability to view criminal court records online, the newspaper conducted a search of its own using the county's system and found one instance in which a person's social security number was available on a court document.

In his statement, Joerg said there are numerous ways for documents to be uploaded to the system, with most of them "e-filed" by individuals, their lawyers or government agencies. For those that are filed manually, Joerg said the staff members at the county clerk's office scan the documents for upload to the system. He indicated that there are "countless pages of searchable documents in the system" that are "filed by a myriad of individuals."

Joerg said documents that are e-filed with the courts are monitored by software that flags "anything that looks like, for example, a social security number." He noted that the filer is also required to check the document for potential redaction. For documents manually filed, Joerg said the county clerk's staff reviews for redaction during the scanning process.

County officials noted that accessing Search IQS requires a paid subscription, which limits the availability of documents found on the website to subscribers only.

"The county clerk's office takes personal privacy very seriously and will continue to work with our vendors, users and partners to further protect personally identifiable information," Joerg said.

The county will extend free credit monitoring services to any individuals whose public information is found to have been made available online through the Search IQS System.

Individuals who are concerned about their personal information being made public through the county records system are asked to call the Action and Proceedings Division of the Niagara County Clerk's Office at 716-439-7269 for more information.