Have you used an app to pay for parking in Boise? Your data may have been breached

One of the nation’s most widely used parking apps, which is prevalent in Boise, had a data breach that may have affected tens of thousands of Boise residents, according to the company.

Personal data on the ParkMobile app, which allows users to pay for parking on their phones or online and which is used in hundreds of American cities, was breached in March due to “a vulnerability in a third-party software,” according to an emailed statement from a company spokesman, Jeff Perkins.

About 79,000 people have used ParkMobile in Boise, and data about anyone who signed up for the app prior to March 17 may have been released.

After an investigation, the company found that encrypted passwords had been accessed, but not the encryption keys needed to read them, according to ParkMobile.

“Our investigation has confirmed that basic account information — license plate numbers and, if provided by the user, email addresses and/or phone numbers, and vehicle nicknames — was accessed,” Perkins said. “In a small percentage of cases, mailing addresses were affected.”

It is unclear which users had their data breached, but all 21 million users of the app may have been affected, according to the company, which became aware of the issue in March.

“No credit cards or parking transaction history were accessed, and we do not collect Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, or dates of birth,” Perkins said.

The city of Boise manages about 1,300 on-street parking meters, according to its website, and all meters are equipped with the ParkMobile app. The app was introduced to Boise in 2015.

ParkMobile recommends users consider changing their passwords in the settings section of the ParkMobile app or at https://app.parkmobile.io/account/settings.

A spokesman for the city of Boise could not immediately be reached for comment.