State Database in Washington Hacked, SSNs Stolen

By Paul Thomson :: 9:54 AM

A database for Washington State’s court system was hacked in February, and the state admitted yesterday that the incident may have allowed hackers to access thousands of Social Security numbers and drivers license numbers.

Officials who originally discovered the breach months ago initially did not believe that any data had been stolen. Later, they ascertained that at least 94 Social Security numbers were downloaded, and 160,000 Social Security numbers and one million drivers license numbers may also have been accessed.

Access to the court’s computer system came, “through a back door part of a commercial software product we were using, and it is patched now,” according to state official Mike Keeling.

This is the first time that the court’s system is known to have been breached. The state is working with the 94 Social Security number holders who had their data downloaded.

February’s data breach did not leak any financial data, such as credit card numbers or bank account information.