Privacy Breach: 13.5 Million Complaints Exposed in Baltimore City’s 311 Services

The recent discovery of an unprotected instance revealing the identities behind 13.5 million complaints submitted since 1989 has raised serious concerns about the safety and privacy of individuals who have used Baltimore City’s 311 Services. The exposed database, discovered by the Cybernews research team on May 8th, contained sensitive information such as names, email addresses, and phone numbers of people who submitted requests over several decades.

While the 311 service was initially meant for non-emergency services, some residents used it to report crimes, making the exposure of this data particularly concerning. With Baltimore being known for its high homicide rates, the leak of such information could potentially put individuals at risk of retaliation or harm.

The leaked data included reports of traffic accidents, housing sanitization requests, road quality reports, locations of speed cameras, animal control complaints, and accusations of illegal activities. While some of this information is already publicly available, the sheer volume of data exposed in this instance is significantly higher than what is typically released by the City’s government.

The Cybernews team has reached out to the City of Baltimore for comment but has not received a response. The instance has since been secured and is no longer accessible to the public. However, the implications of this data leak on the privacy and security of individuals who reported issues through the 311 platform remain a cause for concern. Subscribe to Cybernews for more updates on cybersecurity issues and data breaches.