Heritage Bank Data Breach Affects 182k: Social Security Numbers Exposed

Heritage Bank, a community bank founded in 1927 with branches across Washington state, disclosed a data breach that was identified on March 2, 2026, one day after it occurred. 182,793 total individuals were impacted, including 920 Texas residents and 94 Massachusetts residents.

Heritage Bank posted a notice about the security incident on its website, which was last updated on March 20, 2026. Additionally, the company filed a disclosure with the attorneys general offices of California, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Oregon and the Texas.

On March 1, 2026, an unauthorized party copied files from an internal file share server, according to the company's notification. The file share server is used by employees in their day-to-day work and may have contained private and confidential data belonging to both employees and customers.

Once the bank noticed the suspicious activity, it took steps to isolate and secure its network. The bank also brought in third-party specialists to help investigate the nature and scope of what had occurred.

The investigation confirmed that certain files were copied from the server during the unauthorized access. However, Heritage Bank stated that its customer accounts, customer systems and operations were not impacted by the event.

The compromised data may include an individual's name along with one or more of the following: account numbers, Social Security numbers or individual taxpayer identification numbers, financial information, government-issued ID numbers, dates of birth and addresses.

Heritage Bank's response

The bank is offering complimentary credit monitoring and identity protection services to individuals who may have been affected. Given that the breach involved highly sensitive information like Social Security numbers and account numbers, these services can provide an important layer of protection.

Heritage Bank has set up a dedicated assistance line for people who have questions or who want to enroll in the free credit monitoring. That number is 1-833-877-5751, and it is available between 5:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. PT, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays.

Individuals can also write to the bank at Heritage Bank, P.O. Box 1578, Olympia, WA 98507.

Steps to take if your information was exposed

• Place a fraud alert or credit freeze on credit files by contacting any one of the three major credit bureaus.
• Request free credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com or by calling 1-877-322-8228, and review them carefully for accounts or inquiries that look unfamiliar.
• Monitor bank and financial account statements closely over the coming months for any unauthorized transactions, and report anything suspicious to the financial institution right away.
• File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission
• Be cautious of phishing attempts that reference this data breach by name, as scammers often try to exploit breach notifications to trick people into sharing even more personal information.
• File a police report if any signs of identity theft or fraud appear