The Coleman campaign now has another headache to deal with: They are advising contributors to cancel their credits cards, The Hill reports, after an apparent security foul-up in late January.
Last night, Coleman’s entire online donor list received an e-mail from a Wikileaks.org e-mail address, notifying them that their private information had been posted in a publicly accessible area of Coleman’s campaign site this past January 28, and has circulated out of public view. The e-mail also contained a link to the Minnesota statute requiring organizations to disclose “in the most expedient time possible” to any Minnesotan if they reasonably believe their private information was illicitly accessed, and informed recipients that they were being notified as a courtesy by Wikileaks, in case the Coleman camp hadn’t already.
The Wikileaks e-mail also includes a link to an Excel spreadsheet purported to contain all the donors’ names, addresses, employers, and the last four digits and CSC security codes on their credit cards.
Coleman spokesman Cullen Sheehan told The Hill that they had contacted federal authorities at the time, and after reviewing the site logs they did not believe that any unauthorized party had downloaded private information. However, he is nevertheless urging some serious precautions — encouraging supporters who may have donated to cancel their credit cards.
“Let me be very clear: At this point, we don’t know if last evening’s e-mail is a political dirty trick or what the objective is of the person who sent the e-mail,” said Sheehan. “What we do know, however, is that there is a strong likelihood that these individuals have found a way to breach private and confidential information.”
