MASSIVE RI HACK - Hundreds of Thousands SS Numbers, Banking Info, Names, DOBs May All Be Compromised

MASSIVE RI HACK - Hundreds of Thousands SS Numbers, Banking Info, Names, DOBs May All Be Compromised

At an unprecedented Friday night press conference held by Governor Dan McKee, he claimed that the State of Rhode Island was first notified on December 5 of a potential major massive cyberattack.

McKee disclosed late on Friday that the state’s system to support everything from SNAP benefits to Medicaid to HealthsourceRI are all now closed.

The number of Rhode Islanders who may be impacted could be in the hundreds of thousands.

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According to state data, the number of Rhode Islanders who accessed Medicaid in 2023 was 389,000.

 

Major Data Protection Failure

McKee said that his administration, the Rhode Island State Police and the FBI were all notified of the data breach. 

The data that was accessed is believed to go back to 2019, according to McKee, which counters his claim that the information accessed goes back eight years. 

According to comments at the press conference and other sources, the data of hundreds of thousands of Rhode Islanders may include:

- Social security

- Banking Information

- Names

- Addresses

- DOB

 

Shutdown of System

McKee claims issues were first detected as far back as December 5.

Brian Tardiff, RI Chief Digital Officer, when asked what the state didn’t take action earlier in the week once it learned about a potential threat, “There are various types of cyber criminal type of attacks. As the investigation is ongoing, when it first began we were unsure of exactly the veracity of the cyber criminal's claims. And we purposely did not take action to avoid potential triggering of further damage to the environment.”

McKee, when asked about his leadership of the Washington Bridge and now this major cyberattack, said, “Well, I think that that's the investigation again in terms of what caused it. We're working with Deloitte right now. I would also, you know, I don't want to go backward, but I want to go forward. After a year, we're headed in the right direction on the [Washington] bridge and we have a shorter timeline to actually address this [cyberattack] right…”

The state claims that it discovered malicious files were found on Friday afternoon

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According to the McKee Administration, the following is their version of events.

Please note, this information HAS NOT BEEN INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIED:

On December 5, the State was informed by its vendor, Deloitte, that the RIBridges data system was the target of a potential cyberattack. At that time, it was unclear if any sensitive information was breached. At that time, appropriate federal law enforcement and agencies were notified, as well as the Rhode Island State Police. 

After consultation with our state IT department, Deloitte immediately implemented additional security measures and started to assess the threat. It was important, for security reasons, to keep this knowledge internal until we could secure the RIBridges system. At the same time, our team began an investigation into what data may have been compromised, and how a possible attack was able to occur.   

On December 10, the State received confirmation from Deloitte that there had been a breach of the RIBridges system based on a screenshot of file folders sent by the hacker to Deloitte. On December 11, Deloitte confirmed that there is a high probability that the implicated folders contain personal identifiable data from RIBridges. On December 13, Deloitte confirmed there was malicious code present in the system, and the State directed Deloitte to shut RIBridges down to remediate the threat.  State police and federal law enforcement are involved in an advisory capacity and no further leads have been provided.

To the best of our knowledge, any individual who has received or applied for health coverage and/or health and human services programs or benefits could be impacted by this breach. The programs and benefits managed through the RIBridges system include but are not limited to:   

Medicaid,    
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP),    
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF),    
Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP),    
Health coverage purchased through HealthSource RI   
Rhode Island Works (RIW),    
Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS)and    
General Public Assistance (GPA) Program.   

While the analysis of the breach is still underway, unfortunately, Deloitte has indicated that the information involved may include names, addresses, dates of birth and Social Security numbers, as well as certain banking information, but is still assessing the situation.    

Households that may have had personal information compromised will receive a letter by mail from the State that explains how to access free credit monitoring. A dedicated call center for impacted customers will be available Sunday, December 15 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. After Sunday, the call center will be open Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. EDT. The State will update its website with the call center number on Sunday morning. 

We are currently unaware of any identity theft or fraud related to this data breach. However, we advise customers to remain vigilant and monitor their accounts for any unauthorized activity. This includes: 

Taking steps to freeze credit and/or place a fraud alert through the three major credit bureaus (Visit https://www.usa.gov/credit-freeze for more information and see contact information for the three credit bureaus below). 
As a best practice, customers should change any common or reused passwords to a new strong and unique one. Using a safe and secure password manager is the most effective way to reduce risks of password misuse.  
Customers can also call their bank to ask what steps may be taken related to the security of their bank account.  

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THIS STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED 12/13/24 8:24 PM