Cyber attack may affect personal information of thousands of Rhode Islanders

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — A massive cyberattack could impact the personal information of hundreds of thousands of Rhode Islanders after hackers targeted a state contractor that stores health and personal data.

Governor Dan McKee announced Friday that anyone who has ever received or applied for health coverage or human service benefits through the state could be impacted by the leak.

“We’ve been informed by Deloitte that the system it manages, RIBridges, has had a major security threat,” McKee said.

RIBridges is the system the state uses to determine eligibility for various healthcare programs and benefits, including food stamps, Medicaid, and cash assistance.

State officials said the hackers told them they were holding the information for ransom.

“Any individuals who have received or applied for health and human service programs or benefits could be impacted by this leak,” Department of Human Services Director Kimberly Merolla-Brito said.

Officials added that some of the data involved may include personal information, such as names, addresses, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers.

The RIBridges system has since been shut down to avoid further damage.

“The Deloitte team is now in the process of doing all that is necessary to safely restore the RIBridges system so that we can have a high-level of confidence there will be no disruption resulting from cyber criminal activity,” Chief Digital Officer Brian Tardiff said.

Officials said that anyone who thinks their info may be impacted should monitor their accounts for any unauthorized activity, including taking steps to freeze credit or place fraud alerts, changing common passwords, and calling banks to get information related to account security.

State leaders added that they are uncertain how long the site will be down, and RIBridges users will not be able to access their accounts during that time.

A dedicated call center for impacted customers will be available Dec. 15 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., as well as Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

More information on the breach can be found here.