State Bar notifies 1,300 people identified in data breach

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The State Bar of California has begun notifying individuals whose names appeared in more than 322,000 confidential attorney discipline records published online in a massive data breach.

The State Bar said Friday it will contact 1,300 complainants, witnesses or respondents whose names appeared in more than a thousand confidential case records that appeared online.

“The State Bar is committed to transparency, and maintaining the public’s trust in our agency is paramount,” State Bar Executive Director Leah Wilson said in a statement.

The documents, published by public records aggregator Judyrecords, erroneously remained online from Oct. 15, 2021, to Feb 26, 2022.

The breach, first reported by the Southern California News Group, was not a hack, but rather a security vulnerability in the State Bar’s case management system. As a result, the confidential records were unintentionally swept up and published by Judyrecords.

Access to State Bar public records has been restored and the vulnerability has been corrected, the news group reported Saturday.