Online fishing and hunting license sales have now been suspended in Washington, Oregon and Idaho following a hacking incident. A Washington state official says some 7 million records across the three states were compromised, but the information was not terribly sensitive.
The hack involves a third-party vendor called Active Network Outdoors which calls itself the leading provider of licensing systems to the states. The company has not responded to multiple requests for comment.
But Michael Cockrill, Washington’s Chief Information Officer, said the company is cooperating with an investigation that includes the FBI. Cockrill said the information that was compromised includes what you’d find on your driver’s license -- but not full social security or credit card numbers -- suggesting the hacker may have just been showing off.
Even so, the cybersecurity breach prompted all three Northwest states to temporarily shut down online fishing and hunting license sales as a precaution. Washington announced free fishing days through next Tuesday because of the inconvenience. Oregon and Idaho are still allowing people to buy fishing and hunting licenses in person.
Copyright 2016 Northwest News Network
