The University of Washington Breach

The University of Washington is a public university in Seattle, Washington that's known for its research programs. The school was founded in 1861 and currently serves more than 31,000 undergraduate students. The school conducts a great deal of medical research, and one of the research projects resulted in data loss for the participating patients.

What Was the Breach?

• Full Name
• Home Address
• Phone Number
• Date of Birth
• COVID Test Results
• Demographic Information

How Did the Breach Occur?

This University of Washington (UW) data breach occurred because some students accidentally put up a protected file on a public website. The file was available for download and used for several hours before it was eventually removed from the public server. This incident exposed all the data outlined above that was collected from each participant of the study.

When Did This Breach Occur?

This University of Washington data breach occurred on February 4, 2022. The file was uploaded to a public server and removed from the server all on the same day. There is a slight risk that other people were able to access the information while it was up.

Who Does the Breach Impact?

This UW data breach impacts anyone enrolled in the University of Washington Husky Coronavirus Testing research study. If you were involved in the study, all the information outlined above was exposed to the internet and could have been copied or used by other people. It's unlikely that your data was misused during the short period it was available online, but there is still a risk you should be aware of.

How Many Files Does the Breach Affect?

A single UW file was involved in this data breach. The file contained patient data concerning a Coronavirus study.