COLUMBUS, Ohio — The cyberattack on the city of Columbus is affecting hundreds of thousands of people, including Mary B. Relotto who has lived in Columbus since 1988.
“I was afraid of my own personal credit being stolen and being used against me,” said Relotto.
At first, Relotto didn’t know if her data was on the dark web or not. 10TV asked her if she would like a cybersecurity expert to check if her information was there and she agreed.
The expert said her information was on there, along with thousands of other private citizens.
Relotto said she has visited City Hall and scanned her ID at least a dozen times.
“Over the past 18 years I’ve been going to city hall for a variety of reasons, whether meeting with city council members or I was attending a city hall meeting or council meeting,” she said.
Relotto said when she found out her data could be compromised, she froze her credit right away. She said she wishes city leaders would have told people sooner about the problem.
“I do believe this is possible anywhere in large cities. I’m surprised that we, the citizens of Columbus weren't apprised of this long before the media put it out there. How the mayor didn't have a press conference earlier and say 'Look everyone, you need to take measures here and protect your credit because this happened,'” she said.
We asked Relotto what she learned from this experience so far.
“This is a bigger issue here, this is huge. What I’ve learned too is be apprised of what’s going on in the community and make officials accountable for making sure citizens are protected,” said Relotto.