Fergie's Tech Blog

Illinois: 300k Banking, Real-Estate Professionals At Risk in State Computer Security Breach

Mike Ramsey writes in The State Journal-Register:

The state's professional-regulation department is notifying roughly 300,000 licensees and applicants that a computer server with some of their personal data was breached early this year, a spokeswoman for the agency said Friday.

Potentially at risk for identity theft are banking and real-estate professionals whose licensing information - including addresses, tax numbers and Social Security numbers - were kept on the storage server, said Sue Hofer, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

She said investigators have determined that the breach "looks like criminal conduct," and the hacking appears to have come from a source outside state government.

Department officials notified the Illinois State Police and FBI after they determined on May 3 that the computerized information had been compromised, probably in January, Hofer said.

posted by Fergie @ 5/19/2007 12:56:00 PM