OLYMPIA, Wash.-The number of Washingtonians affected by data breaches has declined for the second consecutive year.
State Attorney General Bob Ferguson released his annual data breach report on Thursday, Dec. 14, which shows that while data breaches remain historically high nationwide, they are declining in Washington.
“Data breaches are a serious threat to our security and my office will use this report as a guide to better protect Washingtonians,” said AG Ferguson.
Four million data breach notices went out to Washingtonians in the past year, according to the AG’s Office, down from 4.8 million in 2022. The Attorney General’s database of breaches is available online.
The Attorney General provides its data breach report as a public service to provide Washingtonians with critical information to help them safeguard their data and is based on data breach notifications received between July 24, 2022 and July 23, 2023 that affected more than 500 Washingtonians’ personal information, according to a press release on the number of breaches.
Although data breaches are down in Washington, when they do occur they are most likely to be cyberattacks.
According to the AG’s Office, cyberattacks accounted for 81 of 133 data breaches in the past year.
“We will continue to be a watchdog that protects Washingtonians’ privacy,” said AG Ferguson.
