The Secretary of State's Corporations office keeps its records safe and fulfills its legal duty very well, says an office spokesman, and if anyone thinks otherwise, they're "ignorant of the process."

The spirited defense comes days after a FOX 5 television news report claimed a security flaw in the SOS website allows fraudsters to steal a corporation's identity.

"Anyone who owns or manages a business knows you don't become an agent of that company by simply changing a registry with the Secretary of State," explained SOS spokesman Matt Carrothers. Companies must change their officers according to their own bylaws.

The controversy comes from a case now in court where a metro man is charged with submitting his own name to the SOS as an agent of a company he actually had nothing to do with.

Sec. State Brian Kemp

Then, armed with fraudulent credentials, the man was allegedly able to convince American Express to float him nearly $300,000 in credit against another man's company.

with fraudulent credentials, he was allegedly able to convince American Express to float him nearly $300,000 in credit against another man's company.

EMBARRASSMENT V. IGNORANCE

On that news, GOP Secretary of State hopeful Doug MacGinnitie said his nomination rival and current Secretary Brian Kemp "has let our business owners down and quite frankly should be embarrassed."

"In the business world, technology has to pass two tests: functionality and security. Any time you are dealing with an individual's personal, financial or business data, security should always be first," he concluded.

Carrothers flatly charged that MacGinnitie doesn't understand the Corporations Office. "We don't have the legal authority to investigate suspected criminal activity," Carrothers explained. The Corporations Office's job -- by law -- is to hold records, not intervene in disputes.

Doug MacGinnitie                                MacGinnitie said he doesn't want to see Georgia's business owners suddenly find themselves "thousands of dollars in debt and fighting to restore their business identity thanks to a security breach at the Secretary of State's office."

WHAT DOES THE SOS DO?

The public can visit the SOS website to view listings of companies registered with the state, as well as those businesses' top officers, agents, street address and company registration history. It's also possible to submit changes to those listings online, though only people who actually work with the company are supposed to do that.

To help prevent illegal changes, Kemp earlier this year rolled out a new program. Each time someone tries to change an agent name, an email goes out to every email address ever associated with that entity. The email simply tells the recipient there's a change. It's up to the recipient to watch out for fraudulent registrations.

The SOS does not collect social security numbers or tax ID numbers, as it is simply a custodian of public records, Carrothers explained. So there's no security check tied to those unique numbers.

ELSEWHERE, IT'S DIFFERENT

Alabama, Tennessee and Florida don't allow online filing of company agent name changes like Georgia. All require a written or emailed request. But they do work on the same legal principle: they're only document custodians, not fraud detectors.

North Carolina requires an entity to have a password to change corporate documents online, but paper documents are accepted as well without any such check.