The Washington State Attorney General’s office has released its annual data breach report, and the numbers are eyebrow-raising.
2022 numbers second only to 2021’s records
According to the AG’s office, of the seven years these reports are prepared and released, 2021 was the ‘worst’, or saw the most people affected. But 2022 numbers are not far behind.
According to AG Bob Ferguson’s office:
“This year, 4.5 million data breach notices were sent to Washingtonians, second only to the 2021 record of 6.3 million since the Attorney General’s Office began tracking this number.”
A series of newer state laws require all businesses that deal with Washington residents or do business here, to report any and all data breaches within 30 days of the discovery of the breach.
According to the AG report:
“This year, a cybersecurity attack on T-Mobile exposed the data of more than 2 million Washingtonians. This is the largest breach to hit the state since the Equifax breach of 2018, which affected 3.2 million Washingtonians.”
The list also includes significant breaches reported by state agencies including the Department of Licensing (483.904), Labor and Industries TWICE (unknown-16466), WA State Department of Transportation (2249), as well as the Washington Education Association (WEA teachers union (17,415). The numbers listed by the entities are the number of people potentially affected by each breach.
Also, the Washington State Auditor’s office was hit in February, with 1,420,520 potentially having social security numbers and multiple other data exposed.
To see the report for yourself, click here.
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