State data hacked: Driver's license, Social Security numbers stolen?

OLYMPIA -- A massive security breach of a state website may have put your Social Security and driver’s license numbers in the hands of criminals.

It happened at the Administrative Office of the Courts in Olympia. Investigators first thought hackers didn’t get much data, but it now seems as though hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians could be facing a serious risk of identity theft.

“The software that we use on our website had vulnerability,” said Veronica Diseth with the court’s office. “The patch for that vulnerability wasn’t released until late January, and we did implement that fix but the breach had occurred prior to that.”

In all, the hackers collected more than 1.1 million government records.

Those at risk include people who had a DUI citation between 1989 and 2011 or any other kind of traffic case filed in district or municipal court in 2011.  If that describes you, your driver’s license information could be out there.

But the news is a lot worse for anyone who was booked into city or county jail between September 2011 and December 2012; those people’s names and Social Security numbers may now be in the hands of identity thieves.

“We took immediate actions to ensure the site was secured and to begin the investigation, analyze the impacts and undertake significant security enhancements to prevent future compromise,” said Diseth.

Gov. Jay Inslee says he’s had state agencies double checking their data security.

“We have searched diligently and can find no breaches into our system.  So that’s some good news, and this just demonstrates why you have to be super vigilant because of the increasing threat that hackers pose into these systems,” said Inslee.

The state office has set up a hotline to answer any of your questions. Call 800-448-5584 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.