Personal data of almost entire population of US state of Maine hacked

SAN FRANCISCO — In a massive data breach, the State of Maine in the US has admitted that hackers got access to personal data of approximately 1.3 million residents, which is close to the state’s entire population.

The State announced that its systems were breached after cyber-criminals exploited a vulnerability in the MOVEit file transfer tool and accessed personal information of about 1.3 million people.

“The software vulnerability was exploited by a group of cybercriminals and allowed them to access and download files belonging to certain agencies in the State of Maine between May 28, 2023, and May 29, 2023,” the state of Maine said in a statement.

The exposed information belonging to 1.3 million individuals, including minors, contained full name, social security number (SSN), date of birth, driver’s license, state identification number, taxpayer identification number, and health insurance information.

The most impacted agency was Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services, followed by the Maine Department of Education.

“The State of Maine has determined that this incident has impacted approximately 1.3 million individuals, with the type of data affected differing from person to person. The State encourages individuals to reach out to its dedicated call center to verify if they were affected and, if so, to identify what specific data of theirs was involved,” it said.

As soon as the State became aware of the incident, it took steps to secure its information, including by blocking internet access to and from the MOVEit server.

“This event has had a global impact, affecting thousands of organisations, including certain agencies in the State of Maine,” it noted.

Importantly, as it pertains to the State, this incident was specific and limited to Maine’s MOVEit server and did not impact any other State networks or systems.

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