Since July 18, Columbus Mayor Andy Ginther has downplayed the severity of the city’s data base being hacked. He has basically told the media and public not to worry. Everything is hunky-dory and under control. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
A mayor’s spokesperson stated, “City officials have been ordered by someone not to disclose publicly the totality of computer outage or its cause.” He waited weeks before sending City employees with credit monitoring information. In late July, several Columbus Police officers contacted Fraternal Ordr of Poice (FOP) officials claiming that their data may have been compromised, including retired police officers. And the number of officers “continues to multiply.”
Ginther’s political career is laced with concealing the truth. This has been his everyday approach to controversy. The silence from Ginther and City officials in this case indicates catastrophe. And due to lack of information and silience from Ginther and City officials, local media has had to seek the opinions of professionals in the fields of cybersecurity and cybercrime to get to the truth. One such expert has claimed that this “sounds pretty severe.” Another expert said, “This is bad.”
It has been reported by at least two local media outlets, that Connor Goodwolf, a cybersecurity specialist has stated that personal data of private citizens has also been exposed. According to The Columbus Dispatch, Mr. Goodwolf “went onto the dark web and is currently analyzing the stolen data himself. He said he found the names, addresses, birth dates, driver license numbers, and Social Security numbers of more than 470,000 people in Columbus and outside of the state of Ohio — including himself.”
Exposed data also included, “names of domestic violence and sexual assault victims and juveniles who are victims or suspects in crimes and the name of people who visited city hall. Anyone who visited city hall and had to scan their identification, usually driver’s licenses, to gain entry has been affected.” NBC 4 reported that, “Anyone who visited Columbus City Hall within the past two decades may be affected.” This definitely includes me. Ginther and City officials had to be aware of all of this yet said nothing about it.
On August 13, Ginther said he stood by previous comments that the leak lacked “value to those who would seek to do harm or profit from it.”
He claimed the data was “encrypted or corrupted.” More deceit.
Voters are now questioning Ginther’s 2023 re-election win and what a mistake it was. Not only should Columbus City Council hold a vote of no confidence for Ginther when they return to meet in September from its August break, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost should conduct an investigation on Ginther’s alleged failure to properly notify and provide city employees and the general public with credit monitoring. Ultimately, Ginther’s continued failures to lead and lack of integrity merit his immediate resignation and would be welcomed by Columbus taxpayers.
