Pierce County Library System Data Breach Exposes Information of Over 340,000 People

A cyber attack on the Pierce County Library System in the state of Washington has led to the compromise of personal data of over 340,000 people, which is indicative of the rising threat of cybersecurity breaches being posed to public services. This attack has impacted library services in the entire county, along with library users and staff.

The incident was made known to the public through breach notification letters published on the website of the Pierce County Library System. 

The incident, as revealed in the notification letters, occurred when the library system detected the incident on April 21 and decided to shut all library systems in an effort to control the breach. The library system conducted an investigation that confirmed the breach had taken place. 

The library network was also able to identify that the exfiltration of data from individuals who utilized or were part of the institution was successful on May 12. It was established that the hackers had access to the network from April 15 to April 21. Access to sensitive information was gained and exfiltrated during this time. The level of information that was vulnerable varied depending on who was targeted. 

The data that was breached for the benefit of the library patrons included names and dates of birth. Though very limited compared to the data for employees, this data is still significant for use in identity-related fraud. The breach had severe implications for curren

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