Kootenai County Confirms Breach Exposing Residents’ Sensitive Data
Summary
Kootenai County says hackers accessed residents’ Social Security numbers, fingerprints, and private medical and financial information in a March breach. The county says it restored operations within hours, refused the ransom, and is offering one year of credit-monitor
Key points
- Kootenai County confirmed hackers accessed residents’ Social Security numbers, fingerprints, and private medical and financial information in a breach that occurred in March.
- The county has not disclosed how many residents were affected or which individuals’ information was accessed.
- Commissioner Bruce Mattare said the county detected and shut down the intrusion quickly and restored operations within hours.
- County officials refused to pay the ransom demanded by the attackers.
- The county delayed public notification while assessing the breach’s scope; residents criticized the four-month gap.
- Affected residents are being offered one year of free credit monitoring, and the county says it will notify victims by mail.
Article Details
- Victim Organization
- Kootenai County
- Incident Type
- Data breach involving unauthorized access to county systems and a ransom demand
- Data Types Exposed
- Social Security numbers
- Fingerprints
- Medical information
- Financial information
- Affected Records
- Not disclosed
- Affected Data Size
- County officials described the amount of breached data as very minimal; no specific volume was disclosed.
- Operational Impact
- The county said it shut down the intrusion quickly and restored operations within hours.
- Ransom Or Extortion
- The attackers demanded a ransom. County officials said they refused to pay.
- Claim Status
- confirmed