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Personal Information of 1.6 million Washington Unemployment Claimants Compromised in Hack of Third-Party Software

Personal information relating to the unemployment claims of 1.6 million Washington State residents was compromised after unauthorized access was gained to files being transferred via third-party software used by the state auditor’s office.

In a news release on Monday, Washington State Auditor Pat McCarthy said the compromised data included Social Security numbers and personal banking information.

The breach happened in December. The data was being collected for the auditor’s investigation into the prior loss of $600 million in fraudulent unemployment claims.

The breach affected filings for claims made between January 1st and December 10th of 2020.

McCarthy said the attack was made to the third party service provider and was not the responsibility of the Washington Employment Security Department. 

The Washington State Auditors office website has links to the three major credit reporting companies for people who may wish to check or freeze their credit.

https://sao.wa.gov/breach2021/