Data Breaches Increased by Nearly 20 Percent in 2019
Washington State has released a new report on data breaches. The report may not be on a national or international scale, but it provides an interesting bit of data that can give us insight on what’s happening with our personal information.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson released his fourth annual Data Breach Report. Washington law requires businesses and state agencies to report breaches affecting at least 500 Washingtonians to the Attorney General.
“This report highlights that data breaches remain a serious threat to our privacy,” Ferguson said.
According to the report, between July 2018 and July 2019, data breaches impacted 390,000 Washingtonians. This represents a significant decrease from 2018, when data breaches impacted 3.4 million Washingtonians, mainly due to a mega-breach reported that year by credit-reporting firm Equifax.
The Equifax breach alone affected more than 3.2 million Washingtonians, and resulted in the largest-ever data breach enforcement action in United States history.
However, there were no mega-breaches affecting Washington residents in fiscal year 2019. Unfortunately, the number of Washingtonians impacted by small to mid-size breaches more than doubled in 2019 — from 180,000 to 390,000.
New data breach protections coming soon
The growing trend amongst US States seems to be state-led action against data breaches. With the federal government stuck arguing, states have found it necessary to enact new laws. Washington State is among these states.
New consumer protections go into effect on March 1, 2020 in Washington State.
House Bill 1071 reduced the deadline to notify consumers and the Attorney General’s Office of a data breach from 45 to 30 days. HB 1071 also expanded the definition of “personally identifiable information” to include:
- Tax ID numbers
- Passport numbers
- Health insurance policy numbers
- Biometric data, such as fingerprints and DNA profiles
- Medical history
- Keys for electronic signatures
- Student ID numbers
- Military ID numbers
- Usernames and email addresses
Wiperts is here to help
Data breaches lead to identity fraud. Personal information is used to apply for credit cards, mortgages, and utilities. When this information is exposed on the internet, your financial livelihood is at risk. You need to keep your data off of search engines and information brokers.
Wiperts removes your information from the internet. It’s important to keep your private details private. Any public information you want to remain online will remain as-is, just let the experts at Wiperts.com know what you need done.
The subscription service provides continuous protection at an affordable price. Other monitoring services do just that – monitor. What you need is active protection, a service that actually goes out and removes your information from the web. Contact Wiperts today and see what can be done for you.
