The Small Business Administration (SBA) is in the process of notifying small business applicants impacted by an exposure of personally identifiable information (PII) in connection with their its Economic Injury Disaster Loan applications.
Over the weekend, news outlets reported that small business owners who applied for disaster loans amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic had PII exposed, but an SBA spokesperson told MeriTalk that a “limited number” of applicants were affected.
“We immediately disabled the impacted portion of the website, addressed the issue, and relaunched the application portal,” the spokesperson said. “SBA continues to process applications submitted via email, paper, and online.”
The spokesperson did not confirm the cause of the exposure, or the exact number of applicants exposed.
The Economic Injury Disaster Loan offers qualified small businesses experiencing a temporary loss of revenue caused by the coronavirus pandemic an advance up to $10,000.
