SBA Exposes Private Information Of 8,000 Small Businesses In ‘Accidental’ Website Leak

Never forget that the government is one giant DMV (it’s one of many reasons why so many millions of Americans are wary of universal health care).

Minutes ago, CNBC reported that the private and “personally identifiable information” of as many as 8,000 small business loan applicants may have been leaked during the chaotic rollout of the federal paycheck protection program – or ‘PPP’.

BREAKING: Nearly 8,000 small businesses notified that “personal identifiable information” may have been exposed due to issue on Small Business Administration web portal. (via @KateRogers) https://t.co/jn8limUSe7 pic.twitter.com/yRChbhKHE7

— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) April 21, 2020

CNBC’s Kate Rogers said the issues arose on the SBA side via the EIDL application process. The nearly 8,000 businesses impacted by the leak have been notified, per the SBA. The ‘impacted portion’ of the site was “immediately disabled.”

We’ve learned of some new issues with the SBA’s #EIDL application process:
-The SBA has notified nearly 8K businesses that their information may have been potentially exposed to other businesses in the application portal
– SBA immediately disabled the impacted portion of the site

— Kate Rogers (@katerogers) April 21, 2020

Sr. Admin official adds:
-the issue has been addressed, application portal relaunched
-Businesses notified and offered a year of free credit monitoring
-Discovery was made March 25th
-This impacts EIDL ONLY, not PPP #EIDL https://t.co/UxkcborvtW

— Kate Rogers (@katerogers) April 21, 2020

The leak was purportedly a problem with the website – meaning it was very likely self-inflicted. Not exactly a vote of confidence in the federal government’s ability to manage the task of handing out hundreds of billions of dollars of loans to every beauty salon, restaurant and pro shop in the country (plus thousands of other businesses).