"Guardian Angel of Internet" Alerts People About Security Issues

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by Fox Charlotte

Story Created: Sep 19, 2011 at 9:00 PM EDT

Story Updated: Sep 19, 2011 at 10:34 PM EDT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - "Why do you do this?  What is the point? If 99% of the time you get no response, you get no business out of it, are you just the Internet's guardian angel," asks FOX News @ Ten anchor Morgan Fogarty of web security consultant Stephen Chapman.  Chapman writes articles about technology and he's a search engine detective.

Using a tried and true set of key search words,  he regularly finds personal data on the Internet like social security numbers, credit card information and recently, "Test answers and quizzes and things for the current year."  Chapman uncovered that the Hoke County School District, in an effort to allow staff to transfer files, inadvertently set up an open access "File Transfer Protocol" (FTP) address.

"They just didn't set it up with any security at all," says Chapman.  At least one teacher is storing, amongst other things, her tax records on her work computer.  Chapman says, "Whatever you store on your folders at work, you may have no clue that it's all of a sudden available on the Internet for someone to access it."  Once accessed, the information can be used for identity theft.

Chapman has been a search ninja for eight years but only started contacting people about two years ago to let them know they were at risk.  He says, "99% of the time, I receive no response."

The 1% that does reply either says "thanks" or accuses him of hacking.  Chapman's goal, he says, is to raise awareness and keep people safe.  The lesson here?  He says, "Don't store anything at work that's unnecessary."

We called and e-mailed the Hoke County School District but haven't heard back.  Their site was down on Monday, which could mean they are fixing the security issue. 
 

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