Portsmouth parking app breached for personal information

A breach in March to the ParkMobile app in March accessed basic personal information but not credit card records, according to the company.

The company said it began an investigation with a cybersecurity firm into the March 26 breach after it became aware of the issue. The investigation determined the breach was connected to a vulnerability in ParkMobile's designers' software. The third-party vulnerability was eliminated and continues to be monitored by ParkMobile.

The investigation concluded that only basic user information was accessed including license plate numbers, email addresses, phone numbers, and vehicle nicknames, if provided by the user, according to ParkMobile. It said that in a small percentage of cases, mailing addresses were also affected.

Passwords were accessed but not the encryption keys required to read them, ParkMobile said. The company said "as an added precaution" users can change their passwords in the setting section of the app.

No credit card information, which the company said is kept separately, or data related to a user's parking transaction history was accessed, according to the company, which said it does not collect Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, or dates of birth.

The website Krebs on Security reported 21 million accounts were affected and being sold by a company considered to be new in the black market.  Krebs said the data is being sold at an "insanely" high price that would not likely be paid because the company is so new.

"We are taking this incident very seriously and apologize to residents who use the app for the inconvenience. We continue to work closely through the Legal Department and DPW Parking Division to address this issue with ParkMobile," City Manager Karen Conard said in a statement. "Subscribers to the ParkMobile app should be assured that the scope of the incident was contained and that they can continue to use the app without worry."

The app,  in use in Portsmouth since February 2019, allows users to pay for parking from their mobile device. It is alsi

The company said that as the largest parking app in the U.S., the trust of ParkMobile users is their top priority.

"Please rest assured we take seriously our responsibility to safeguard the security of our users’ information," the company said.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNH