By Rich McKay
(Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Rhode Island residents' personal and bank information, including Social Security numbers, were very likely hacked by an international cybercriminal group asking for a ransom, state officials said on Saturday.
In what Rhode Island officials described as extortion, the hackers threatened to release the stolen information unless they were paid an undisclosed amount of money.
The breached data affects people who use the state's government assistance programs and includes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and healthcare purchased through the state's HealthSource RI, Governor Dan McKee announced on Friday.
Hackers gained access to RIBridges, the state's online portal for obtaining social services earlier this month, the governor's office said in a statement, but the breach was not confirmed by its vendor, Deloitte, until Friday.
"Deloitte confirmed that there is a high probability that a cybercriminal has obtained files with personally identifiable information from RIBridges," the governor's office said in a statement on Saturday.
A representative from McKee's office was not immediately available to Reuters for comment.
Anyone who has applied for or received benefits through those programs since 2016 could be affected.
The state directed Deloitte to shut down RIBridges to remediate the threat, and for the time being, anyone applying for new benefits will have to do so on paper applications until the system is back up.
Households believed to have been affected will receive a letter from the state notifying them of the problem and explaining steps to be taken to help protect their data and bank accounts.