INDIANAPOLIS (WRTV) The state of Indiana is phasing out a transparency tool out of concern for cybersecurity, Indianas I-Team has learned.Find a Person allows you to look up state employees and learn: Title Agency Work address Email address Desk phone numberIndianas I-Team has also used the Find a Person tool to see whether someone is still employed with the state.Indianas I-Team noticed certain state employees missing from the portal, and we contacted the Indiana Office of Technology.While the Find a Person feature provided transparency and contact information, it also introduced a significant security risk by making data easily accessible to cybercriminals, said Kelly Johnson, IOT Director of Communications, in an email to Indianas I-Team.Upon further review, page traffic and utilization of the application was very low, leading to the decision to phase it out, as the benefit of the tool did not outweigh the security concerns.Johnson points out that the state does still have the Indiana Transparency Portal, which contains salary information about employees.The Indiana Transparency Portal on in.gov continues to provide information about state finances, assets, contracts, employee salaries, and more. Indiana was also the first state to introduce a broad-based generative AI chatbot on our homepage, making information more readily searchable, said Johnson in an email. Using the Ask Indiana tool, constituents are able to locate the information they need quickly and efficiently. While we have seen an increase in website visits, overall page views and time on site have decreased, illustrating that people are finding answers faster.Johnson said the Indiana Office of Technology conducts ongoing security and risk assessments to safeguard state data and systems. ...read more read less