A data breach at the state agency that operates Rhode Island’s public bus service compromised the personal information of about 22,000 people, significantly higher than the previously announced number of 17,000, officials said at a legislative hearing.
The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority shared documents at a Senate oversight committee hearing Monday night that disclosed that about 5,000 agency employees as well as 17,000 other public employees were affected, WJAR-TV reported.
RIPTA sent letters in December that indicated that about 17,000 people were affected.
The agency said then that unauthorized access had been gained to some of its computer systems and that private information — including Social Security numbers and Medicare identification numbers — had been compromised.
The breach remains under investigation, both internally, and by the state attorney general.
“At this point in time, we don’t believe that anyone did anything wrong on our end, but we are still investigating it,” RIPTA Chief Legal Counsel Steven Colantuono testified at the hearing.
RIPTA Director Scott Avedisian, speaking publicly for the first time about the breach, said much of the information compromised was contained in documents from the state’s former health plan administrator, stored on non-encrypted RIPTA servers.
Officials from the administrator were scheduled to testify at the hearing, but did not.
Patrick Crowley, secretary-treasurer of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, said some union members affected by the breach have already reported their personal data has been misused.
Topics Cyber
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