A significant data breach in Maine has compromised the personal information of at least 1.3 million residents.
This breach, reported by The Hill, occurred earlier this year and involved a cyberattack on the MOVEit file transfer system. This system is widely used by various government agencies at both state and federal levels. The breach resulted in the exposure of names, dates of birth, social security numbers and government IDs of potentially all 1.38 million residents in Maine.
The cyberattack, initiated by a Russian ransomware group, had a global impact, affecting at least 70 million people. The Maine government, in a press release, stated, “Since the onset of the incident, the cybercriminals involved claimed their primary targets were businesses, with a promise to erase data from certain entities, including governments.” However, despite assurances from the cybercriminals that data obtained from governments has been erased, the state is urging individuals to protect their personal information.
In Maine, most state government agencies were spared from the attack. However, over 50% of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and between 10% and 30% of the Department of Education were affected. To address this, the state has announced that it will provide two years of complimentary credit monitoring and identity theft protection to those whose social security numbers were stolen.
Following the breach, Maine took several steps to mitigate the damage and prevent future incidents. These included engaging outside legal counsel, blocking internet access to and from the MOVEit software, hiring cybersecurity professionals and working to identify every individual impacted by the breach.
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