Drew Stewart joined the WACH Fox News assignment desk in December 2011.
COLUMBIA (WACH)- Two more defendants have been added to a lawsuit initiated by a South Carolina lawyer, who is suing the South Carolina Department of Revenue.
Spartanburg attorney and Former State Senator John Hawkins added the Department of State Information Technology (DSIT), and a third-party firm called Trustwave. The lawsuit says Trustwave was hired by the Department of Revenue to monitor the credit card and social security information kept by the agency.
Hawkins said Gov.Nikki Haley publicly stated Friday the Department of Revenue used Trustware for security monitoring. Haley is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Hawkins said, "This is a huge development, because we learn for the first time that a very large, multi-national corporation had assumed the responsibility for securing this data. This case is no longer just about suing state government; it's become much bigger."
Hawkins also said the the lawsuit will show that the reasons given by the Department of Revenue for using Trustwave apply only to credit card numbers and not social security numbers and do not excuse the agency's failure to use DSIT and other more robust and readily available security systems.
The next step for the lawsuit is discovery, which is set to begin soon, Hawkins said.
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