Adoption Agency Data Exposure Revealed Information About Children and Parents WIRED

pThe adoption process is inherently sensitive involving deeply personal information about children birth parents adoptive parents and other caregivers So when longtime databreach hunter and security researcher Jeremiah Fowler came across a publicly accessible database online at the end of June that seemed to contain information related to adoption he was instantly concernedppFowler scrambled to identify the owner of the database which he concluded was the largely Texasbased nonprofit Gladney Center for Adoption He then worked to notify the organization about the exposed data on June 25 but received no reply He attempted notification again on June 26 and within a few hours the database was silently securedhopefully before anyone else was able to access itppMisconfigured databases are common online even after years of effort to raise awareness about the issue making information accessible to whoever comes across it Fowler was particularly alarmed to see adoptionrelated data though because the trove included details like the identities of some childrens biological parents data on individuals medical and mental health status information about interactions with Child Protective Services and even records referencing court orders The database also included more typical personally identifying information like names addresses phone numbers email addresses and unique identifiers assigned to childrens cases Fowler was ultimately able to trace the database to Gladney because it also contained information about some of the organizations employeesppThis is the first time in all of my research that Ive seen adoption data and it stood out because a lot of these kids are very vulnerable Fowler tells WIRED I believe that this data was exposed during the move to a different system and that it was up for a few days before I found it So I go to sleep at night hoping I got to it before the bad guys didppFowler says that the data appeared to be from a customer relationship management or CRM system that is used to organize client data in businesses and other organizations The trove contained more than 11 million records and was 249 GBppThe Gladney Center for Adoption takes security seriously We always work with the assistance of external information technology experts to conduct a detailed investigation into any incident Data integrity and operations are our top priority chief operating officer Lisa Schuessler wrote in a statement With any incident we work with law enforcement and comply with applicable laws and regulations and in the case of any determination of sensitive information within our possession being impacted we notify all impacted individualsppWhen asked whether this should be taken as confirmation that Gladney secured the exposed database found by Fowler and is notifying individuals whose data was included Schuessler referred WIRED to Gladneys initial response That statement also noted that Gladney is constantly taking additional steps to further strengthen and bolster our systems to ensure our networks and the information entrusted to us is secureppIn your inbox Our biggest stories handpicked for you each dayppThe AI backlash keeps growing strongerppBig Story Cloning came to polo Then things got truly uncivilizedppThis is DOGE 20ppUncanny Valley An insider look at the influence of Silicon ValleyppMore From WIREDppReviews and Guidespp 2025 Condé Nast All rights reserved WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers The material on this site may not be reproduced distributed transmitted cached or otherwise used except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast Ad Choicesp