ALE Solutions data breach: what happened and what to do

ALE Solutions, a business services company, found its network had been hit by an unknown actor who encrypted data. Maine's Attorney General lists 28,897 people affected. Names and Social Security numbers were exposed. The breach window began April 1, 2020 and notices went out January 11, 2021.

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Breach date: Apr 2020
Made public: 11 Jan 2021
Affected: 28,897
Data exposed: Names, Social security numbers
Last updated: 27 Oct 2026

Reviewed by Anthon Wansland

Head of Product & Co-Founder

Serus is a privacy company with paid tools to find and remove your personal data. This page is free and based on official sources.

What happened

ALE Solutions told regulators it became aware of unusual activity on its network and found that an unknown actor had encrypted data, the pattern of a ransomware attack. The Maine Attorney General's listing gives a breach window of April 1 to June 1, 2020, a discovery date of December 16, 2020 and consumer notification on January 11, 2021.

The same listing shows 28,897 people affected in total. Washington's Attorney General separately lists 736 Washington residents, which is one state's share and not the total.

Sources checked: oag.ca.gov, maine.gov, identitytheft.gov

Last verified against the official page: 27 Oct 2026

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What was exposed

Names together with Social Security numbers. The notice filed with the California Attorney General is the template letter sent to affected people.

A name and Social Security number is the core of identity theft: it's what a lender or a tax-refund thief needs. The exposure doesn't involve passwords, so the main risk is misuse of your identity rather than account takeover.

The company's response

ALE brought in outside forensic experts and offered 12 months of credit monitoring, identity restoration and identity theft insurance through TransUnion.

What to do if you were in it

1

Freeze your credit at all three bureaus

A credit freeze is free and stops lenders from seeing your credit report, which blocks most new accounts in your name. Place it separately at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, as the FTC explains.
2

Use the free monitoring if you were offered it

ALE offered 12 months of TransUnion monitoring and identity restoration; the enrollment steps are in your letter. The FTC recommends taking free credit monitoring when a company offers it. Monitoring alerts you to new activity but doesn't block it, so pair it with a freeze.
3

Protect your tax return

The IRS offers an Identity Protection PIN to stop someone filing a return with your Social Security number. Get one at irs.gov/ippin.
4

Check your credit reports and statements

Review your reports for free at annualcreditreport.com and read bank statements for charges you don't recognize. If someone uses your details, report it at IdentityTheft.gov to get a recovery plan.
5

Expect scams that mention the breach

Criminals use real details to sound convincing. Treat unexpected emails, calls or texts about this breach, your account or your health coverage as suspect, and contact the company on a number or site you look up yourself.
6

Check whether your email or phone is in this and other breaches

Run a free Serus scan. It checks breach databases for your email, phone and other details, and Serus keeps watching and alerts you if they turn up in a new leak.