‘We’re furious’: Seattle Housing Authority tenants looking for answers after data breach

SEATTLE — The Seattle Housing Authority was hit by a data breach late last year, with affected tenants receiving word in just the last 10 days.

The SHA confirmed the breach with KIRO 7 on Friday, describing it as “an incident where our service had been accessed.” That included personal information for an unspecified number of employees and tenants working for and with the organization.

According to the SHA, the data breach occurred in October of 2023.

“We immediately took measures to contain the incident, notified federal law enforcement and launched an investigation with the assistance of cyber incident response specialists to determine the full nature and scope of the event,” SHA Communications Director Kerry Coughlin said.

By the next month, it became clear that tenant information had potentially been accessed. The most recent notifications were sent out to tenants on Jan. 16.

As for why it took months to send out those notices, the SHA explained that it took time to work with a cybersecurity firm to comb through data and determine who exactly might have been affected.

We spoke to one frustrated tenant who recently got her letter from the SHA notifying her of the breach.

“We’re furious,” she said. “As parents, our minor children, and our information is exposed -- my husband and I are trying to get our lives back on track, and everything could potentially be ruined as a result of this.”

The agency notes that there is “no evidence that any information has been used to commit identity theft.”

Anyone wrapped up in the breach received an offer from the SHA for two free years of credit protection and monitoring.

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