City employees' information exposed online for almost one year

Employees with the City of Knoxville received a notification on Thursday that their private information, including their Social Security numbers, may have been revealed after data was 'inadvertently' posted on a procurement website.

According to a city spokesperson, last year, personal information of employees who were employed as of Feb. 1, 2018, was posted to the site. It included information such as: employee names, addresses, dates of birth, gender and Social Security numbers and other types of employment information.

The city did not discover the reveal had happened until January 8, 2019.

The information was immediately removed from the website.

"New policies and procedures have been implemented to prevent this from happening again. We sincerely apologize for this inadvertent disclosure," the notification said.

The city is offering employees free identity theft protection, credit monitoring and restoration services.