The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) notified the public on Friday of an incident within the State of Illinois systems earlier this year.
The department noted that on or about February 11, 2025, HFS became aware that a bad actor was conducting a phishing campaign targeting HFS employees and attempting to gain access to their usernames and passwords. The bad actor sent emails to HFS employees from another government email account that the bad actor had previously hacked, so that the emails looked trustworthy to HFS employees.
As a result of these actions, one HFS employee’s emails and documents were compromised.
They further stated that:
“Immediately upon discovery, HFS worked with the Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) to block the link contained in the email and reset any employee’s password that may have been compromised. HFS also communicated with all employees about the active threat and reminded them about appropriate actions to take or not take when presented with a request for their state credentials.”
The information compromised differed for each individual impacted, but may have included customer names, social security numbers, driver’s license or state identification card numbers, financial information related to child support, child support or Medicaid identification and case numbers, and date of birth.
The total number of individuals impacted was 933, of which 564 were Illinois residents; the Department completed notifying the affected clients on May 23, 2025.
Potentially affected Individuals with a question about this incident can email HFS.Privacy.Officer@Illinois.gov.
Potentially affected individuals can also contact consumer reporting agencies to place a free fraud alert or security freeze on their accounts, or the Federal Trade Commission to learn more about fraud alerts, credit freezes, or other identity theft resources.
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