The start of a new year is a good time to renew efforts to maintain the highest level of cybersecurity possible. Already in 2023, the Washington Attorney General’s Office received reports of 19 data breaches involving Washington consumers.
See: Data breaches reported to the Attorney General’s Office.
Below is a sample of occurrence summaries from October through December, 2022. These are just five of the 42 breaches reported.
| Date Reported | Organization Name | Date of Breach | Number of Washingtonians Affected | Type of Company/Information Compromised |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/16/2022 | Snohomish County PUD No. 1 | 01/01/2015 | 1132 | Utility/Name; Social Security Number; Full Date of Birth; Email Address and Password/Security Question Answers; Other |
| 12/16/2022 | Hope College | 1225 | Education Provider/Name; Social Security Number; Driver's License or Washington ID Card Number; Full Date of Birth; Student ID Number | |
| 12/07/2022 | Veros Credit | 12/10/2021 | 535 | Financial Services Related/Birth; Passport Number; Health Insurance Policy or ID Number; Medical Information; Username and Password/Security Question Answers |
| 12/02/2022 | Snap Finance LLC and Snap RTO LLC | 06/23/2022 | 1266 | Financial Services Related/Name; Social Security Number; Driver's License or Washington ID Card Number; Financial & Banking Information |
| 11/23/2022 | loanDepot.com, LLC | 11/01/2020 | 801 Financial Services/Financial & Banking Information |
Reports of cybersecurity incidents continues to show that the greatest cyber risk is the loss of protected data because of malware and ransomware attacks. Phishing, emails and phone calls, are the gateway to most attack methods.