Data Of Over a Million Exposed
The State Auditor’s Office in Washington State released a statement confirming a data breach that happened on December 25th, 2020. Accellion, a third-party provider that the office uses to transmit files, was involved in the breach. The Auditor’s Office reiterated to the public that the breach was with the third-party vendor and was not the fault of the State Department.
Personal information including the person’s name, social security number, driver’s license or state identification number, bank information and place of employment is believed to be involved. The Department also believes that this will effect individuals who filed for unemployment in 2020.
Considering the pandemic sent many home, and left many more unemployed, the impact of the exposed information has the potential to reach more people than in a normal year.
The data also includes details held by the Department of Children, Youth and Families and nonpersonal financial information from local governments and state agencies. State Auditor Pat McCarthy said about 100 local governments were affected, and those entities have already been notified. She added the office is still trying to fully understand what data was breached.
If you feel your data may be part of this leak, please contact the State Department. It’s also advised to set credit monitoring to alert you to fraudulent or unusual activity with your social security number.
