A Christmas tree decorates a waiting area in the Rhode Island Department of Administration on Dec. 16, 2024 — a festive display glimpsed just after Gov. Dan McKee and state officials held a press conference on the RIBridges breach. (Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)
As a gentle snow fell over the state Friday evening, all appeared quiet on the dark web blog of an international cybercriminal group threatening to release the personal data of hundreds of thousands of Rhode Islanders allegedly stolen from the state’s public benefits system.
The cybercriminal group Brain Cipher reset the deadline for paying its ransom demand several times over the past week. Unless the ransom amount — still undisclosed — is paid, the hackers threaten to release data from the RIBridges system, which is managed by the global consultancy Deloitte. The data could include names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and banking information from people who have ever applied for benefits like food stamps and Medicaid or commercial health insurance through the online portal.