Ames, Iowa: Parking Ticket System Breached; Personal Info Possibly Stolen

As if getting a parking ticket wasn’t bad enough, the city of Ames is informing those who recently paid parking fines that their private information — including credit and debit card numbers — may have been stolen.

The city said in a news release Friday that a data breach may have affected 4,600 people who paid parking tickets using the online system between Aug. 10 and Nov. 19.

Data that may have been revealed includes names, mailing and email addresses and credit and debit card numbers.

The city says it learned of the compromise on Nov. 18, took the system offline and replaced the web server. The system was brought back online Nov. 20.

Ames Finance Director Duane Pitcher apologized for the breach and said the city is “confident we’ve addressed the vulnerability and corrected it.”