Food Worker Card records exposed in Data breach
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Washington State Food Worker Card online training database, known as "Do it Right! Serve it Safe!", reported a data breach caused by an unauthorized access. The incident occurred around November 18, 2018, as reported by the Department of Justice.
No details are provided about nature of the breach.
The breach resulted in the exposure of user account information for approximately 1.5 million individuals, including their
- names,
- dates of birth,
- email addresses,
- zip codes.
Recently, it was discovered that 9,500 records also contained driver's license numbers collected prior to September 4, 2012, with the state having changed its numbering system in 2018.
Although the state requires notifying only the affected 9,500 individuals, the organization responsible for the database has decided to notify all affected individuals to ensure transparency and will also inform the Attorney General's Office.
It should be noted that the breach occurred with the previous software and hosting platform, as the organization has since updated its software and migrated to a more secure hosting platform in 2019.
While the risk of identity theft is considered low, affected individuals are encouraged to take steps to protect their information, including reviewing their credit reports and contacting Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
Update - Per reports from the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Departmen, the stolen database was a copy of another live database, copied on November 18, 2018. Althougn details about the attack are still missing, this looks like a case of exposing a database unprotected.
