Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha told The Providence Journal on Thursday that he is going to open an investigation into a data breach involving the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA). This comes after outrage grew this week over the agency’s handling of the incident.
Neronha’s office told the news outlet that they are receiving a high number of calls about the incident, prompting them to look into what happened.
On December 21, RIPTA sent out a notice saying that August 5 was when it first identified a “security incident.” RIPTA eventually discovered that data was exfiltrated from their systems between August 3 and August 5. The files contained information about RIPTA health plans and included Social Security numbers, addresses, dates of birth, Medicare identification numbers and qualification information, health plan member identification numbers, and claims information.
The US Department of Health and Human Services breach website indicates that 5,015 people were affected.
“Worst — and most inexplicable — of all, the people who have contacted us are even more deeply distressed by the fact that RIPTA somehow had any of their personal information — much less their personal health care information — in the first place, as they have no connection at all with your agency,” Brown added.
