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Notice to Media from Illinois Department of Human Services – Incident Involving Protected Personal Information
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT:
Pursuant to the requirements of the Illinois Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), 815 ILCS 530/12, the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) is notifying the media of an incident within IDHS State of Illinois email accounts:
On April 25, 2024, IDHS experienced a privacy breach. An outside entity, through a phishing campaign, gained access to multiple employee accounts, and files associated with the accounts. The files included the Social Security numbers (SSNs) of 4,701 customers and three employees.
Separately, public assistance account information (name, public assistance account number, and some combination of address, date of birth, Illinois State Board of Education Student Information System ID number, Recipient Identification Number, and cell phone number) was accessed for 1,118,993 customers. That information did not include SSNs.
On May 3, 2024, IDHS, in partnership with the Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT), determined the incident was a reportable breach of security under PIPA.
Upon learning of the phishing incident, IDHS worked in partnership with DoIT to investigate the extent of the breach and to determine which individuals were included. This was an in-depth forensic analysis, followed by a manual review of all compromised files to determine the nature of the breach. IDHS continues to train its employees on how to avoid and report phishing attempts.
Per PIPA, IDHS is required to notify individuals affected. PIPA allows for substitute notice, rather than actual notice, when notification costs exceed $250,000, the incident affects 500,000 individuals or the State Agency does not have sufficient contact information. Substitute notice requires notice sent via email (if the Department has email addresses on file), notification to major Statewide media, and posting on the Department’s public website.
In response to this incident and due to the sensitivity of the information involved, IDHS decided to complete written notice for individuals whose SSNs were involved and whose current address is on file with the Department. The written notices contained details about available resources for credit monitoring.
IDHS completed substitute notices for individuals whose SSNs were accessed but whose current address is not on file with the Department.
IDHS also completed substitute notices for the 1,118,993 individuals whose public assistance account information was accessed, as the information is significantly less sensitive.
On October 31, 2024, IDHS sent written notice to 2,918 customers whose SSNs were accessed. The remaining 1,783 individuals will be considered noticed via the media release and website posting because IDHS does not have their current address on file. On November 21, 2024, IDHS sent email notices to the three employees whose SSNs were accessed.
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