CAROLINA BEACH — One of three New Hanover County government terminals — available for the public to access and view internal emails among government staff and elected leaders — is closed permanently due to cybersecurity concerns, according to the town’s mayor.
Carolina Beach Mayor Lynn Barbee told Port City Daily Monday: “During a recent security audit, many issues were pointed out that make [the terminal] no longer tenable … We have implemented a web based request system of requesting public information to make access easier. As a town our goal is always transparency, but we must comply with all state and federal laws.”
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The web-based system is a link on Carolina Beach’s website for people to submit a public records request and has been available since June 2025, though anyone could submit a records request prior through the town. North Carolina General Statute § 132 requires access to public records be made readily available and easily attainable.
Though not an amenity required by law for local governments to have, the Carolina Bech terminal has been open for 12 years. It is a practice undertaken locally by both the New Hanover County government and the City of Wilmington.
The terminal is often utilized by journalists who can receive up-to-date information or scoop for news coverage. It’s also, in some instances, a quicker method to receive more detailed information about projects or plans than waiting for a public records request, which oftentimes takes multiple weeks or even months for government entities to fulfill.
Carolina Beach’s public access terminal consists of a laptop connected to the town’s Outlook email system and is located at town hall’s door. It doesn’t require an appointment to visit, and the public can utilize it to peruse emails, documents exchanged among town staff, council members, and any external messages sent to them.
Kristen Dunn, real estate broker and founder of the Facebook group Speak Up Carolina Beach, would visit the town’s terminal at least twice a month and has expressed concerns about it going away.
“How are residents going to know what’s going on in town hall?” Dunn asked, worried that, despite council meetings, certain information could fall under the radar. “[The town is like], ‘We have a public records link on the town website.’ You’ve always had that. And unless you know what to ask for, how am I going to know?”
The terminal is closing because a cybersecurity audit, conducted by the National Guard and presented to council during its planning retreat on Jan. 30, found the town’s terminal process did not filter out information appropriately. Instead, its system was “automatically forwarding all staff emails” to a “centralized repository account.” Essentially, any email would go to a publicly accessible laptop in town hall, without discriminating between confidential emails and non-confidential ones. For example, it could include a vendor purchase with detailed account information.
To prevent this from happening in other terminals in the county, the City of Wilmington, for instance, asks staff to label email subject lines “protected” to filter out medical or personnel details from what is viewable to the public. If a confidential or protected email gets through to the terminal, it can be removed, Amy Willis, Wilmington’s communications manager, explained.
However, Barbee told Port City Daily the audit suggested this filtration method was insufficient in the town’s case. When asked if the town considered asking IT to program the system to block certain information, Oakley stated the department suggested shutting down the terminal altogether.
“Our attorney has advised us that by law we can only apply the confidential mark in very specific cases to comply with [North Carolina] law,” Barbee added.
Audit documents indicate public access to the town’s system was in violation of state and federal privacy laws. The audit stated the violations, which could lead to criminal penalties up to $5,000 per and civil liability, include:
- Personally Identifiable Information due to “failure to properly safeguard PII” and “inadequate” data collection controls
- Privacy Act due to “improper access to records”
- Stored Communications Act (SCA), which considers the centralized repository as an interception of communications
- North Carolina Identity Theft Protection Act that considers the repository a security breach and that the town failed “to provide required notifications” of the breach
- Personnel records privacy under N.C. General Statute § 160A-168 for unauthorized disclosure
The audit suggested several immediate actions to address concerns of privacy law infringements regarding employee health information and vendor payment information, including the terminal’s closure, the implementation of public records request processes, assessment of the security breach, and developing privacy policies and employee notice, among others.
The decision to close the terminal did not come following a vote, but was rather a spoken agreement between staff and council. Mayor Barbee explained the town manager did not need council approval to remove the terminal and never has. But Oakley informed council at the end of January about its closure and council unanimously agreed to it at its Jan. 30 retreat, following the audit presentation.
As for why the audit was conducted altogether, Barbee said it is not uncommon.
“We ramped up the scope of our audits last summer to cover more attack surfaces as a part of a strategic initiative to combat ever increasing threats,” he said.
Port City Daily reached out to inquire into any security breaches or cyberattacks that prompted concern but did not hear back by press. At the council meeting Tuesday night, Oakley confirmed the town and police have investigated two cybersecurity attacks, though they were unrelated to the terminal.
“Because of these incidents, the town has enhanced its polices beyond what we did with the National Guard and its procedures and taken other actions intended to reduce the risk of more incidents,” he said at the meeting. “The town is seeking reimbursements for financial losses as a result of these cyber attacks and I will put out a press release with more details tomorrow.”
In his Friday “Mayor’s Report” — an email list Barbee sends weekly updates and comments to — Barbee noted: “It is quite frustrating, but fraud and abuse are just a part of the world we live in.”
According to Dunn, this isn’t the first time the terminal has been removed from town hall, though previously it was only temporary. Last year, she told Port City Daily, town staff took it away for technical issues, to which Barbee confirmed.
“I don’t recall the issue, but the manager informed us and it was fixed and returned to service in just a few days,” he said.
Dunn did not agree. She claimed staff has been trying to get rid of the terminal for years.
“Last February, I sent a FOIA to the Army Corps of Engineers about all communication between them and the town of Carolina Beach about parking. The day I sent that FOIA in, they pulled the laptop out of the lobby,” Dunn said, alleging that staff removed the laptop due to her request. “I know [staff has] been trying to come up with another reason to get rid of it.”
Port City Daily called the town manager’s office to inquire about whether staff has always wanted the terminal removed — barring any temporary closures — but was told this was untrue.
“The terminal saved staff time from having to fulfill public records request regarding emails. It was started, in part, to alleviate some of the public records burden on the Town Clerk,” Oakley said.
He added about the terminal’s closure last year: “We turned off the public email terminal for a short period in early February of 2025, when a vulnerability on the terminal was discovered that could have potentially led to outside access into the town’s internal system. We put it back online as soon as the issue was corrected.”
Barbee also could not corroborate Dunn’s sentiment.
“I am not aware of staff ever taking any action or requesting council to remove the terminal before this audit. I guess it is possible in the past but not that I recall during my tenure,” he said. “The manager does not need council’s approval to remove it … I would assume if staff wanted to remove it they would have. I appreciate them bringing it to council before acting.”
Though the audit and town staff pointed to privacy issues, Dunn said she has never viewed any employee information come through during terminal visits.
“If you can find someone’s personal information on there, I’m impressed because I look at it all the time,” she said. “I never see anything like that. There’s no one’s social security number.”
Dunn raised issues with directing people to the government website for the public records request link, stating the receipt of information isn’t always timely, if received.
“Even if I say, ‘Hey, police department, how many speeding tickets have you given out on this street in the last two years?’” Dunn cited as an example, “they don’t answer anything. They just ignore you, ignore you, ignore you.”
She thought the town, instead, should fix policy and procedural issues internally, rather than remove public access to the terminal altogether.
Despite Barbee stating his desire and support for transparency, Dunn expressed concern about open communication between the town and its residents, as well as any local advocacy groups and media outlets. She cited “sunshine laws” as a reason for maintaining terminal access; the state defines the law as:
“The public records and public information compiled by the agencies of North Carolina government or its subdivisions are the property of the people. Therefore, it is the policy of this State that the people may obtain copies of their public records and public information free or at minimal cost unless otherwise specifically provided by law.”
Carolina Beach does encourage public records requests and all of its meetings are public record and accessible online.
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