Hackers who breached a Kansas Department of Commerce data system gained access to more than 5.5 million Social Security Numbers, according to the Kansas News Service. The state hired SHI, a security-centric IT solutions provider in New Jersey, to manage the incident response, the report said.
Why was the hack so damaging? Kansas was managing data for 16 states at the time of the hack, and data from roughly 10 of those states was impacted. To mitigate the damage, Kansas and America’s Job Link Alliance-TS (which operates the system) hired three companies, including:
- Epiq of Kansas City to provide call center support for Equifax credit monitoring services;
- Shook, Hardy and Bacon, a Kansas City, law firm, for “professional investigative, legal and compliance services; and
- SHI for “rapid deployment” incident response, the report said.
A fourth company, Denim Group, apparently has been hired to review code and provide application security services, the report indicated.
Kansas will pay for up to a year of credit monitoring services for victims in nine of the 10 affected states. Victims residing in Delaware are eligible for three years of services because of contractual obligations to that state, the Kansas News Service said.
