Florida Department of Agriculture

"The names of thousands of concealed carry permit holders in Florida may have been leaked as the result of a recent data breach, state officials said. An online payment system utilized by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) was compromised about two weeks ago, the office acknowledged Monday, in turn exposing the Social Security numbers of 469 customers as well as the names of 16,190 concealed weapon licensees. The breach appears to have originated overseas and is currently the subject of an investigation undertaken by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, FDACS said in a statement. No financial information was obtained in the breach, and any additional records possibly compromised were already publicly available and pose “no risk of identity theft,” the announcement said. “The social security numbers that may have been obtained had been entered in an online field where either a social security number or Federal Employer Identification Number could be entered,” the statement said. “In 2009, the department began only to request a FEIN in this field and stopped the prior practice of requesting either a Social Security number or FEIN. “Only concealed weapon licensees who renewed online may have had their names accessed,” the announcement continued. “The department’s Office of Inspector General determined that there is no risk of identity theft to these licensees.”