July 13, 2024
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
The City of Philadelphia warned this week that 35,000 people may have been affected by a data breach that occurred last year, possibly exposing their Social Security numbers and names.
A data breach might have impacted more than 35,000 individuals, the City of Philadelphia said this week. The city's email system was attacked between May and July 2023, possibly exposing sensitive personal data.
The city sent a letter to anyone who may have been affected. According to the letter, there is no indication that any identity theft or fraud occurred as a result of the cyber intrusion, but an "unauthorized actor" potentially had access to certain information.
Full names, addresses, date of birth, Social Security numbers and health-related information may have been exposed in the breach, although the amount of information varies between individuals.
"We take this event and information security very seriously," the letter from the city reads. "Upon learning of this event, we immediately took steps to further secure our systems and email environment."
According to a filing by the City of Philadelphia to Maine's attorney general, as reported by Bleeping Computer, 35,881 people were affected, including 15 Maine residents. The filing says that the breach occurred on May 24, 2023, and was discovered on July 28, 2023. The city mailed notices to residents starting July 8.
Anyone with questions relating to the data breach can call an assistance line at 1-866-898-0867 from Monday to Friday between 9 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. or write to the city via the email address HIPAAPrivacy@phila.gov.
