Free fishing, crabbing as state suspends licensing due to online breach

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- State and federal officials say a computer breach in an out-of-state vendor's system that processes online hunting and fishing license sales has exposed several million records containing personal information in Washington, Idaho and Oregon.

The Washington State Office of Cyber Security in a statement Friday says the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and FBI are investigating the computer breach into Dallas, Texas,-based Active Network.

According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, initial information shows exposed information includes Washington residents' names, addresses, driver's license numbers, dates of birth and the last four digits of Social Security numbers.

More than 2 million Washington records were exposed, officials said.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has temporarily suspended the sale of fishing and hunting licenses. However, the department is offering “free fishing” days through Tuesday. WDFW will resume license sales as soon as the vendor and investigators can ensure the security of the system.

Anyone with questions about fishing and hunting licenses can call the WDFW customer service line at (360) 902-2464.

Active Network on its website says more than 42,000 organizers use its event and activity management software nationally.