Cyber-criminals have released on the dark web an unknown quantity of Rhode Islanders’ personal data from RIBridges, the state’s health and benefits portal.
Speaking about two weeks after the breach was revealed, Gov. Dan McKee said it was unclear if the exposure of data involved all or part of the information from RIBridges.
About 650,000 Rhode Islanders use the programs that make up RIBridges.
While the state’s contractor, Deloitte, is handling communications with the hackers, McKee said people who rely on government assistance programs should not face any gaps in benefits.
“If you’re involved with the SNAP benefits or cash assistance or other Department of Human Services programs, we expect that January payments show up on schedule on your EBT cards,” the governor said during a midday news conference at the Statehouse.
It was unclear if the data was released due to the passing of a deadline. Deloitte did not respond to a request for comment.
McKee said the state will bill Deloitte for any extra expenses due to the hack, and he again urged people whose information may be vulnerable to take steps to protect their data through such steps as freezing their credit and using multi-factor authentication for online financial transactions. More details can be found at cyberalert.ri.gov.
Brian Tardiff, the state’s top digital officer, said officials hope to get RIBridges back online by mid-January. But he warned Rhode Islanders to remain on guard.
“Our message to the public is this: Be aware,” Tardiff said. “Be aware that other cybercriminals often exploit incidents like this to launch targeted attacks like phishing. So it’s possible we may see an increase of attempts at fraudulent activity. Phishing is when someone tricks a victim into giving out sensitive information such as credit card numbers and account passwords, using convincing emails, texts or a fake website.”
