California Data Breach Exposes Addresses Of Conceal Carry Permit Holders

Conceal and Carry

Photo: Getty Images

Due to a data breach of the California Department of Justice website, every California resident who holds a conceal and carry permit is the subject of exposed private information. According to KTLA, the Fresno County Sheriff’s office was informed of the breach by the California State Sheriff’s Association following Monday's 2022 Firearms Dashboard Portal publication.

Along with their addresses; Californians with a conceal and carry permit also lost the privacy of their name, age, license type, and Criminal Identification Index number. KTLA mentioned that in response to the data breach, the state Department of Justice website was temporarily disabled to protect further information from being stolen. Officials worry that this is not enough to stop online circulation of information that could have already been copied prior to disabling the website.

No one knows exactly how many hours the private information of conceal and carry permit holders was available to the public on the website. The State Attorney Generals Office is joining the Department of Justice to investigate the extent of the breach. Officials will be in contact with each resident who holds a conceal and carry permit to let them know how to handle the situation. Those who already know that their identity has been exposed can file a report online.