courts-waThe Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts announced this week that its Web site was the subject of a “security breach,” one which has caused as many as 160,000 social security numbers and up to one million driver licenses to be accessed.

“We regret that this breach has occurred and we have taken immediate action to enhance our security to ensure this situation does not happen again,” according to a statement.

The Associated Press reports that the security hole occurred sometime after last September, and it was a result of vulnerability in Adobe Systems’ ColdFusion software. The breach was not discovered until February when a business on the East Coast discovered a similar problem. It has since been fixed, and The Office of the Courts indicates that they believe only 94 social security numbers were compromised.

The Office of the Courts said that individuals who were booked in a city or county jail between September 2011 to December 2012 may have had name and social security number accessed.

Meanwhile, driver license information may have been accessed for those who received a DUI between 1989 and 2011; had a traffic case between 2011 and 2012; or had a superior court criminal case in Washington State filed against you or resolved between 2011 and 2012.

The Office of the Courts has set up a special hotline number for those who want to learn if their personal information was compromised. It is at: 1-800-448-5584.

Here’s more from the Office of the Courts:

Once the breach was discovered, AOC took immediate action to further secure the environment and begin investigation and analysis into the depth and severity of the breach. In addition, AOC collaborated with the Washington State Consolidated Technology Services (CTS) and the Multi-State Information Sharing & Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) for internet security, who provided valuable information in determining the scope of this security breach. MS-ISAC is a focal point for cyber threat prevention, protection, response and recovery for the nation’s state, local, territorial and tribal governments. The MS-ISAC 24×7 cyber security operations center provides real-time network monitoring, early cyber threat warnings and advisories, vulnerability identification, and mitigation and incident response.

AOC has implemented significant security enhancements to ensure that our systems and data are secure and to prevent the potential for future compromise.

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