HUNTING/FISHING -- The Washington Fish and Wildlife Department's new online licensing system appears to be working well after hunters and anglers figure out the new requirements of needing a user name and password, officials say.

The new system was adopted with a few growing pains last year after a breach of the vendor's system exposed the personal data of millions of users.

"The new system we rolled out on Dec. 19 with JMT out of baltimore requires customers to put in a user name and password to get into system, said Pete Vernie, WDFW licening divisional manager. "That change has been a little difficult for a lot of our folks to understand.

"Last year you were still able to just drop in the last four digits of your Social Security number and your date of birth and you were in.

But with all of the security issues out there, our cybersecurity offiials made the requirement to have a password. Get that set up and you're good to go."