SBA reports potential data breach in disaster loan application website

NEW YORK — The Small Business Administration reports it had a potential data breach last month in its website that handles disaster loan applications.

The agency says the personal information of nearly 8,000 business owners applying for economic injury disaster loans was potentially seen by other applicants on the SBA website on March 25. The SBA said only the disaster loan program was affected, not the Paycheck Protection Program, which did not begin until April 3 and which is handled by a separate system.

Carol Wilkerson, an SBA spokeswoman, said in a statement the agency has notified the owners whose information may have been exposed and offered them a year of free credit monitoring.