RALEIGH — An email address for the Scotland County schools was among the more than 30 million revealed by hackers of Ashley Madison, an online site that helps users find people with which to have affairs, according to a website that sifted through the newly released information.
Hackers exposed the personal information of Ashley Madison users last week after criticizing the mission of the site, whose slogan is “Life is short. Have an affair.”
NC Capitol Connection analyzed the data and, so far, has found about 100 email addresses that lead back to governments in North Carolina.
The list also showed two accounts leading back to the Robeson County school system and two from the county government there, including one from the Health Department.
The site posted redacted versions of the addresses, leaving only the domains visible. Ashley Madison reportedly did not verify accounts, meaning users could have supplied someone else’s email when signing up.
Meredith Bounds, the public information officer for Scotland County schools, said school administrators plan to investigate the situation.
“Although this is a popular topic in today’s media, this is still a personnel issue and cannot be commented on publicly,” Bounds said. “It will be investigated and if any employee is found to be in violation of one of our policies, at that point, it will be dealt with accordingly.”
The schools’ policy says “technology and network resources are only to be used for school related purposes.”
Under a separate policy for social media, school employees may engage in the use of social media in their personal time.
“School employees who use social media for personal purposes must be mindful that they are responsible for their public conduct even when not acting in their capacities as school system employees,” the policy said.
NC Capitol Connection say it is still analyzing the full list of emails.