The City of Chicago yesterday announced that a third-party vendor executing a data transfer of a select group of City email files given to the law firm Jones Day as part of an independent inquiry being conducted by the firm became subject to a security breach. The breach, which at no time involved or impacted the City’s computers or computer systems, involved emails sent or received from four former City employees over a two-year time period. While the City is not aware of any fraud that might have resulted from this event, it has taken the matter very seriously and responded accordingly.
Upon notification of the breach, the Chicago Department of Assets, Information and Services (AIS) took immediate action, including notifying the FBI, ensuring the removal of the emails from the transfer application used by Jones Day, issuing a citywide notice to alert employees to a phishing scam, and working with Jones Day and others to confirm the nature and scope of the data at issue. Based on those findings, AIS has taken steps to provide notice to those whose personal information was included in the email files and will offer free credit monitoring services to further protect those impacted by the breach.
As a result of its thorough investigation, the City was able to determine the number of individuals that may have been impacted by the data breach and direct notice was provided to the majority of them. For the individuals for whom the City did not have direct contact information, substitute notice was provided in the form of a posting on the City’s website and a state-wide media alert. The City also notified the Illinois Attorney General’s office.
Out of an abundance of caution as explained in the notices, the City is offering affected individuals free credit monitoring for up to 12 months and set up a call center for those individuals who might have any questions. Additionally, the City is offering those individuals information concerning how to prevent, identify and respond to credit fraud.
