[BreachExchange] ‘Glitch’ In New Illinois Unemployment System Made Private Information Public

[Destry Winant]

https://www.wbez.org/stories/glitch-in-new-illinois-unemployment-system-made-private-information-public/22b1dd10-4d79-4ddd-b14c-799ecdaa3ca6

The state of Illinois’ highly touted new system for processing
unemployment benefits claims for gig workers mistakenly “made some
private information publicly available,” according to a spokeswoman
for Gov. JB Pritzker.

The acknowledgement from the governor’s office came late Saturday,
after WBEZ reviewed a screenshot from the website of the Illinois
Department of Employment Security showing the names of claimants,
their Social Security numbers and other information about their cases
for benefits from the state.

The private information belonged to applicants for federally funded
benefits to independent contractors who have lost their jobs because
of the coronavirus pandemic.

Congress and President Donald Trump approved funding for the program —
known as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA — in late March, and
the state’s new computer system for processing such claims launched on
Monday, with Pritzker announcing that 44,000 jobless workers applied
using the system on the first day.

In a statement to WBEZ, Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said
IDES was “aware there was a glitch in the new PUA system that made
some private information publicly available for a short time and
worked to immediately remedy the situation.”

She said it was not known how many claimants had their personal
information made public and she did not say what caused the problem.

“A full investigation is under way to assess exactly what happened and
how many people were impacted,” Abuddayeh said. “Those who were
impacted will be notified.”

It was only the latest in a series of problems — and possibly the most
embarrassing — for a troubled state agency that has struggled to deal
with the record number of unemployment claims since the pandemic
prompted Pritzker to issue orders closing “non-essential” businesses.
That’s left more than a million Illinoisans seeking jobless benefits.

For nearly two months, applicants for unemployment payments have
reported lengthy delays and technological problems with the IDES
computer system and the state’s toll-free unemployment hotline.

Pritzker repeatedly has promised to fix the problems, hiring a private
company to staff a new call center and to create the new PUA computer
system to process claims from gig workers and independent contractors.
They had not been eligible for unemployment benefits before the
COVID-19 pandemic.

State Rep. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, told WBEZ on Saturday that a
constituent in her southern Illinois district had sent her screenshots
showing the names of claimants and their Social Security numbers.

Bryant said she immediately notified the governor’s office about the
issue on Friday, but a top Pritzker aide had not provided her with any
information beyond promising that they were working on the matter.

So Bryant went public with a letter to Pritzker, demanding the
governor provide details about the “potential massive IDES
unemployment applicant data breach.”

“How long do you wait when people’s data has been out there?” Bryant
told WBEZ in an interview late Saturday. “At that point, I don’t know
what else to do with these people. I think people have the right to
know that their personal information may be out there somewhere so
they can take some precautions.”