North Egypt News

State. Rep. Terri Bryant questions why state officials were so slow to inform the public after a data breach at the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES).

Within the first hour of learning of the data breach, Bryant said she notified the governor's office and the problem was being dealt with. 

“Immediately, I called my contact with the governor’s office,” Bryant told The Southern. But Bryant was worried when no one got back to her about the breach and when there was nothing on the news about it. She sent a letter to Gov. J.B. Pritzker about her concerns and as of May 18 hasn't received word back. 

On May 16, Bryant said the news was released to the public but no one in the governor's office had gotten back to her about her concerns. 

“They actually sent an answer to the media and still didn’t get in touch with me,” Bryant told The Southern. 

The new IDES system was developed by Deloitte Consulting LLC, which received a $10 million award for the system, raising questions for Bryant. Right before the new system went live, 73,000 individuals filed unemployment claims. 

IDES officials released information saying only one person accidentally accessed the breach, but Bryant finds this hard to believe. 

"You can’t tell me [the constituent was] the only person who accessed that between May 11 and May 15,” she told The Southern. 

But the IDES and Deloitte are conducting an investigation into the breach. 

Pritzker noted that similar issues have been reported in other sectors, but the state and Deloitte also were working on those issues. 

“This, as you know, has happened in large corporations and other aspects of other governments around the United States, and we don’t like it happening here,” Pritzker told The Southern. “Deloitte, which built that system, and obviously the glitch that was in there is something that was a result of the work that was done to build it, but they are offering credit reporting for all of those who are affected by it to make sure that they can monitor their credit in case there’s any problem they may undergo.”

Officials are still encouraging people to apply for benefits through the IDES program. Anyone with questions can visit the IDES website.