Data Security Breach Affects Information from 1.6 Million Unemployment Claims

On Feb. 1, the Office of the Washington State Auditor (SAO) announced a data security breach that may have exposed Washingtonians' personal information.

"A security incident involving a third-party provider of hosted software services, which was used by the Office of the Washington State Auditor, might have exposed sensitive data belonging to Washingtonians," the statement reads. "This data includes personal information from about 1.6 million unemployment claims made in 2020, as well as other information from some state agencies and local governments."

SAO believes the following data was affected:

• Personal information of people who filed for unemployment claims from Jan. 1 to Dec. 10, 2020. This group includes many state employees, as well as people whose identity was used to file for claims fraudulently in early 2020. SAO auditors were reviewing all claims data as part of an audit of that fraud incident. This affects about 1.6 million people.
• Personal information of a smaller number of people, including data held by the Department of Children, Youth and Families.
• Non-personal financial and other data from local governments and state agencies.

What You Need to Know

Please visit sao.wa.gov/breach2021 to learn more about the data breach, including what you can do if you are concerned you are affected.

Visit sao.wa.gov/breach2021
SAO has also provided a list of frequently asked questions regarding the breach, which you can read here.

Breach FAQs