The city of New Haven is notifying hundreds of city employees, retirees, vendors and others that they could be affected by a cyberattack that happened last year and they are trying to reach out to dozens of others who might be impacted.
The City of New Haven and New Haven Board of Education said it is sending letters to people who might be affected by a Business Email Compromise cyberattack in June 2023.
Last year, the city identified suspicious activity on email accounts belonging to city employees, launched an internal investigation and tasked a forensic investigation firm to investigate as well.
The forensic investigation found unauthorized access to city email accounts containing personal information from June 1, 2023, through June 18, 2023,according to city officials.
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The city reached out to an e-discovery firm to search the email accounts for any personal information that could have been viewed during the unauthorized access.
That investigation determined that names, birthdates, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, financial account numbers, individual tax identification numbers, health insurance information, and/or medical information of 404 people, including city employees, retirees, vendors and others could have been accessed.
City officials said they aren't aware of any fraud or identity theft, but they are notifying people who might be affected to provide information and resources, including a complimentary one-year membership to an identity protection and credit monitoring services firm.
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Letters are being sent to 334 people that the city has contact information.
And a notice is being posted on the city’s website in an effort to help alert 70 people who the city does not have contact information for.
People who are impacted can call 888-326-0947 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Friday, except on major U.S. holidays, according to city officials.
“The intent of these criminals was to steal money from New Haven Public School students. Fortunately, with the help of our law enforcement partners, we’ve been able to recover most of those funds. However, during this cyberattack, these criminals also had the potential to access personal information of individuals. Thankfully, the City is not aware of any identify theft or fraud stemming from this exposure of information. Out of an abundance of caution we want to notify the individuals involved to ensure they are aware and can take the necessary steps to protect themselves and their information,” Mayor Justin Elicker said in a statement. “Unfortunately, we live in a world where there are bad actors who seek to prey upon and steal from innocent people. We have taken many steps to strengthen our systems since this incident and will continue to improve our systems to help reduce the likelihood of an incident like this happening again.”
City officials said New Haven has recovered or is scheduled to receive around $5.1 million of the approximately $6 million in stolen funds.
The city is recommending that people regularly monitor credit reports, account statements and benefit statements.
If you see any suspicious activity, notify the entity with which the account is maintained, and promptly report any fraudulent activity to police and the state attorney general.
