The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has resumed the sale of hunting and fishing licenses at about 600 dealer locations across the state.
Hunters who have already bought their licenses but need copies of tags or other documents can obtain them through the retail vendors.
Beginning, Monday, Aug. 29, customers can purchase hunting and fishing licenses by phone at (360) 902-2464.
Online license sales and the online reporting functions of the WILD system will remain unavailable until further notice.
WDFW’s “free fishing” days, during which fishing licenses aren’t required, will continue as scheduled through Aug. 30.
The department suspended online transactions on Aug. 22 and sales by phone or in-person at dealer locations on Aug. 23, due to a vulnerability in the outside vendor’s system.
Prior to resuming dealer and phone sales, WDFW worked with the state Office of Cyber Security (OCS) to take steps to ensure the sales systems are secure.
OCS, state and federal law enforcement agencies continue to investigate this incident. WDFW will update this webpage with more information as it becomes available.
License sales information
Customers can buy hunting and fishing licenses, as well as Discover Passes, at WDFW’s dealer locations.
Phone sales will resume Monday, Aug. 29. Customers can call WDFW licensing sales number (360) 902-2464, from 7:45 a.m through 4:45 p.m., Monday through Friday.
License sales through WDFW’s online sales system and automated phone system (866-246-9453) are unavailable until further notice.
Free Fishing
Free fishing days continue through Aug. 30, despite the restoration of license sales through dealers and by phone.
WDFW will not require anglers to have a fishing license to fish or gather shellfish in any waters open to fishing in Washington state through Tuesday, Aug. 30. Other rules, such as seasons, size limits, daily limits, and closures, will remain in effect. Catch record cards and special endorsements, including Columbia River salmon and steelhead, Puget Sound crab and two-pole fishing, also are not required through Aug. 30.
Before heading out, anglers should check the current fishing regulations at
http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regulations/.
More information about “free fishing” days can be found on WDFW’s news page.
Online reporting
WDFW uses its WILD system for some online reporting functions including hunter reporting and Puget Sound crab catch reporting. These online reporting functions have been suspended until further notice.
To submit a hunting report by phone, please call 1-877-945-3492.
For information about crab reporting, visit WDFW’s recreational crab fishing webpage.
Information on database compromise
State and federal officials have confirmed that a vulnerability in the out-of-state vendor system that processes hunting and fishing licenses allowed exposure to several million records in at least three states, including Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
WDFW, the state Office of Cyber Security (OCS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Washington State Patrol and other state and federal partners are investigating the database compromise in collaboration with the vendor, Active Network, which is based in Texas.
Preliminary analysis suggests information may have been exposed for more than 2 million people. That information includes:
Names
Addresses
Driver’s license numbers (customers had the option of providing this information)
Dates of birth
Last four digits of Social Security numbers
On Aug. 27, WDFW restored license sales through its dealers and will resume phone sales Monday, Aug. 29. The license sales systems were restored after state information technology security teams confirmed that they were secure.
WDFW will update this webpage with more information about the security investigation as it becomes available.