Rhode Island Secures $18M Settlement with Deloitte Over 2024 RIBridges Data Breach Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee announced a $7 million settlement with Deloitte following the 2024 RIBridges data breach, which exposed the personal information of over 700,000 individuals. The agreement also includes an additional $5 million to cover unexpected expenses in 2025, along with $6 million in system enhancements, operational support, and business continuity services provided by Deloitte. The breach, which prompted the state to shut down the RIBridges social benefit system in December 2024, compromised data of current, former, and even some individuals who had no direct connection to the system. Governor McKee emphasized that the settlement aims to protect taxpayers while ensuring the state has the resources to restore services for residents reliant on critical benefits. Thomas Verdi, acting director of the Department of Administration, described the agreement as a comprehensive and carefully negotiated resolution, providing both financial compensation and technological improvements to strengthen system security. The state continues to address the fallout of the incident, which disrupted access to essential services for vulnerable populations.

Illinois Faces Multiple Data Breaches Amid Cybersecurity Failures and Delayed Responses Illinois state agencies have come under fire following a series of data breaches, including a prolonged exposure of sensitive information that went undetected for over three years. State Sen. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) criticized the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) after it revealed that protected health and financial data of more than 700,000 residents was left accessible on a public mapping website from 2021 until September 2025 due to incorrect privacy settings. The breach was discovered in September 2025, but notifications to affected individuals were delayed beyond the 60-day federal requirement, with the agency taking 102 days to disclose the incident. Bryant questioned whether contractors such as Deloitte, which managed pandemic-related systems under a no-bid $21–$22 million contract played a role in the failure. Deloitte was previously linked to data breaches in Illinois’ Pandemic Unemployment Assistance system, which led to lawsuits and settlements. The IDHS breach follows a 2021 ransomware attack on the Illinois Attorney General’s office, where DoppelPaymer hackers exposed names, addresses, and Social Security numbers of millions after ransom demands went unmet. The state incurred significant costs for recovery and forensic audits. Bryant highlighted a pattern of systemic failures under the Pritzker administration, contrasting the current response with a decades-old incident where a smaller breach prompted immediate action. While IDHS has since implemented a Secure Map Policy to restrict public data uploads, Bryant argued that affected residents should receive free credit monitoring, as in past breaches. Republican lawmakers plan to press for answers, though Democrats control the General Assembly. Bryant called the repeated breaches preventable and criticized the financial burden on taxpayers, noting that similar incidents have led to costly remediation efforts. The agency has not yet explained the delayed notification or whether contractors were responsible.