The City of Sarasota Says There is "No Financial Data at Risk" in a Security Breach of their "Park Mobile" Parking App, Used for City Parking
The City of Sarasota says… “ParkMobile has assured us that it has resolved the security breach issue and that no credit cards or payment information were compromised”. “The city will continue to work closely with the vendor to ensure the security of our customers’ information”.
The ParkMobile company provides the City of Sarasota with an app to pay for parking downtown. They recently experienced a cybersecurity breach, but they says users’ financial data was never compromised.
ParkMobile reported in late March 2021 that hackers were able to gain limited access to its system. The app allows motorists to pay for parking in areas of the city without having to touch parking meters.
In a letter to customers on April 13th 2021, ParkMoble said encrypted passwords were hacked, but not the encryption keys necessary to use them. Only “basic account information -- license plate numbers, and, if provided by the user, email addresses and/or phone numbers, and vehicle nicknames -- was accessed.” . No credit cards or parking transaction history were exposed.
The company does not collect other data such as driver’s license numbers or dates of birth.
ParkMobile suggested users should consider changing their passwords as a precaution.
Here is the Press Release from "ParkMobile" on the issue: https://support.parkmobile.io/hc/en-us/articles/360058639032-Update-Security-Notification-March-2021