Franklin County, KS notifies 30K people of data breach that compromised SSNS, financial and medical info

Franklin County, Kansas officials over the weekend confirmed it notified 29,690 people of a May 2024 data breach that compromised the following personal data:

• Name
• Social Security number
• Financial account numbers
• Driver’s license number
• Date of birth
• Medical info including conditions, treatments, diagnoses, and medications
• Healthcare providers
• Dates and locations of services provided by the county
• Medical record number
• Vaccinations info
• COVID-19-related info
• Insurance ID number
• Insurance billing info

Franklin County first disclosed the breach in a post on its website on July 19, 2024, about one month after the breach occurred on May 19, 2024.

“On May 20, 2024, the County discovered and responded to a ransomware attack on our computer network,” the notice reads. “We immediately began working with a nationally recognized digital forensics team to secure our network and investigate what happened. We also alerted and cooperated with federal law enforcement. Through our investigation, we learned that on May 19, 2024 the cyber criminals responsible for the attack took some data from the County’s network.”

No ransomware group has claimed responsibility for the attack as of time of writing. We do not yet know whether Franklin County paid a ransom or how attackers breached the county’s network. Comparitech contacted the county for comment and will update this article if it responds.

Eligible victims can take advantage of 12 months of free credit monitoring and identity theft restoration offered by Franklin County via Experian.

Ransomware attacks on US government

Aside from data theft, ransomware attacks on US government entities can disrupt public services by encrypting computer systems until a ransom is paid for a key to decrypt them. Attackers can also extort victims by threatening to sell or publish stolen personal data, putting people at risk of identity theft and fraud.

Comparitech researchers logged 62 confirmed ransomware attacks on US government agencies so far in 2024, and 78 in 2023. The average ransom across all of these attacks was $1.05 million.

Notices are also going out today following a July 2024 attack on the City of Columbus (PDF). Other recent attacks on government include those against North Miami, FL; Killeen, TX; Flint, MI; and Hollywood Burbank Airport.

Another 25 attacks on US government entities were claimed by ransomware gangs in 2024 but not acknowledged by victims.

About Franklin County, KS

As of 2020, Franklin County was home to about 26,000 people, which means nearly all of them could be affected by this breach. The county is located just west of Kansas City.