Someone Just Stole a Ton of Personal Data from State of Illinois

If you get a letter in the mail soon, this may be why. The state of Illinois has revealed there has been a data breach and tens of thousands of residents personal information was allegedly taken.

According to a new report by NBC Chicago, the Illinois Secretary of State's office has confirmed that a data breach happened to their database which contains your information. What information was taken is still unclear, but they say the incident happened back in early April which is troubling.

The state of Illinois knew something was wrong when their employees started getting phishing emails from an illicit source. That's when they learned that someone had compromised their database although they claim no personal driver or tax records were taken.

The insinuation by the state of Illinois (so far) is that the data breach is limited to Lake County only. They also go on to state that they have been pushing for an upgrade to the information technology systems that contain (and hopefully guard) all of your personal information that is managed by the state of Illinois.

The letters have gone out to those affected by the breach late last week so if you haven't received anything, you're likely in the clear or notice could be arriving any day now.

In my other life, I am a certified computer technician and I can tell you I've seen some archaic systems in government places before that took my breath away. I cannot attest to the age or structure of the state of Illinois digital infrastructure, but it sounds like an upgrade with added protections of personal data is needed based on the news of this recent breach.