SEATTLE — The Washington State Department of Licensing (DOL) announced Friday that roughly 650,000 residents have been impacted by a recent data breach in its professional licensing system.
The breach was discovered during the week of Jan. 24 when the DOL was made aware of suspicious activity involving the information saved in the Professional and Business Licensing System.
The DOL shut the system down as soon as it became aware of the activity and began an investigation with the help of the department’s chief information officer and national experts in the cyber security field.
The 650,000 individuals the investigation discovered were impacted by the breach include active professional license holders as well as those with expired, revoked or suspended licenses.
While the types of information that was compromised could be different for each person that was impacted, the database contains things like social security numbers, driver’s license numbers and dates of birth.
The DOL will begin notifying the affected individuals through various means including direct notice and notice to the Washington Attorney General among others as required by law.
All impacted individuals will be offered free credit monitoring.
Additionally, those who may have been impacted can review their account statements and credit reports.
The DOL said professional licensees may want to consider placing a fraud alert or security freeze on their credit file until the investigation is complete and all impacted residents are notified.
Also, anyone who believes they are the victim of fraud or identity theft should file a police report and file a copy of the report to their creditors and any other agency that may need proof of a crime to clear records.
While the licensing system is down, the DOL has begun processing license renewals. Some professionals can file an affidavit documenting their intent to renew their business license.