Lawmakers Slam Secrecy Surrounding Washington Auditor Breach
Washington state senators probing the breach of a file transfer system used by the auditor’s office are criticizing the lack of transparency in the process. The breach exposed the information of 1.3 million residents. by Jim Brunner, The Seattle Times / March 4, 2021 Shutterstock
(TNS) State lawmakers probing the massive data breach at state Auditor Pat McCarthy s office say they re frustrated with ongoing secrecy surrounding the incident, which exposed personal information of at least 1.3 million Washingtonians.
Three state senators who have pressed for details about the breach say the auditor s office has conditioned private briefings on a confidentiality agreement, meaning they cannot share all they learn publicly. The auditor s office has justified holding briefings under so-called attorney-client privilege because the agency is being sued over
State Auditor Pat McCarthy s office plans to send email notifications to an estimated 1.3 million people whose personal information was exposed in a massive data breach disclosed earlier this month.
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Published: February 6, 2021, 6:00am
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SEATTLE A data breach may have exposed the personal information of 1.6 million residents who filed for unemployment last year, as well as other information from state agencies and local governments, Washington state Auditor Pat McCarthy said Monday.
The breach involved third-party software used by the auditor’s office to transmit files. It came as the Auditor’s Office is investigating how the state Employment Security Department lost hundreds of millions of dollars to fraudsters, including a Nigerian crime ring, who rushed to cash in on sweetened pandemic-related benefits by filing fake unemployment claims.
Washington Unemployment Hack Leaves Personal Data Vulnerable Already flooded with fraudulent claims, the state’s unemployment agency now must mitigate a data breach that compromised social security numbers, employment data and bank account information for about 1.4 million people. Jim Brunner, The Seattle Times | February 3, 2021 | News
(TNS) A massive data breach involving the state auditor s office has left more than a million Washingtonians personal information vulnerable to identity theft.
It s created potential new headaches for unemployment claimants already struggling to pay bills and deal with delays in benefit payments. A full picture of the debacle may take months to emerge, but here are answers to some of the most pressing questions Seattle Times readers have been asking: