Kootenai County notifies residents after March ransomware breach exposed data

Kootenai County is notifying an undisclosed number of residents after a March ransomware attack exposed personal information, but county officials still have not said how many people were affected or exactly what was taken.

On March 30, 2026, the county detected and responded to the attack, then completed its review on June 22. At that point, the county determined the incident involved unauthorized acquisition of personal information as defined by Idaho law. County officials have not publicly specified the categories of data compromised, and no ransomware group had publicly claimed responsibility as of Tuesday.

The county’s board of commissioners addressed the breach behind closed doors during an executive session at its May 19 meeting. Meeting minutes show Chair Bruce Mattare, Commissioner Leslie Duncan and Commissioner Marc Eberlein were present. The county is now offering free credit monitoring to eligible breach victims.

Idaho law requires public agencies to notify the Idaho Attorney General’s Office within 24 hours of discovering a breach of their security system. For families in Kootenai County, the immediate question is whether the attack exposed names, Social Security numbers, addresses, banking information or other identifiers that could be used for identity theft. The county has not yet publicly answered that question.

Kootenai Health in Coeur d’Alene disclosed a separate 2024 ransomware breach that affected 464,088 people, including patients, employees and dependents. That incident exposed names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, driver’s license or government ID numbers, medical record numbers, treatment and condition information, diagnoses, medication information and health insurance information.