October was National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and a good time to raise awareness around cybersecurity issues.
DFI recognizes the importance of staying informed and sharing the latest information. Here are details provided by the Washington Attorney General’s Office on significant data breaches impacting Washington consumers. This data is for July through September, 2022 during which there was a total of 38 breaches.
- Finance Company - Unauthorized access to database servers resulted in the exposure of information related to 18,346 Washington residents. A ransomware attack resulted in the unauthorized access of personal information. Name, address, accounts receivable balance and information regarding payments made to the account, and SSN was exposed.
- Health & Wellness Entity - Unauthorized access to database servers resulted in the exposure of Name, SSN, and Health Policy Numbers related to 36,994 Washington residents.
- Technology Education Provider - Unauthorized access resulted in the exposure of Name, SSN, WDL, DOB, Student ID Number and Health Insurance Policy Number related to 5,164 Washington residents.
- School District - Unauthorized access resulted in the exposure of Name, DOB, Academic, Special Education, Accommodations, and Student ID Numbers related to 36,773 Washington residents.
- Student Loan Servicer - Unauthorized access to protected information resulted in the exposure of Name, DOB, and Student Loan information related to 35,151 Washington residents.
- Truck Rental Company - Through a phishing email, system-administrator passwords were collected and used to access database servers which resulted in the exposure of Name, DOB, and WDL information related to 61,770 Washington residents.
- Bank - Unauthorized access resulted in the exposure of Name, Loan Account Number, and 1098 Mortgage statement information related to 13,214 Washington residents.
- Hospital - Unauthorized access resulted in the exposure of Name, and Medical Information related to 6,240 Washington residents.
Reports of cybersecurity incidents continues to show that the greatest cyber risk is the loss of protected data as a result of malware and ransomware attacks. Phishing, emails and phone calls, are the gateway to most attack methods.