ILLINOIS (WEHT) – Illinois officials report an incident has occurred within the State of Illinois Application for Benefits Eligibility (ABE) system’s Provider Portal.

Officials say on August 22, there was an issue embedded within ABE’s Provider Portal. Upon investigation, officials found that people who applied to become Provider Portal users potentially could see certain customer applications, before they were approved users, if they clicked on certain buttons in a specific order that was different from the displayed instructions while logged into their account.

Officials say this meant that benefit applications that were submitted through the Provider Portal prior to August 23 potentially could have been accessed by users who went to the Provider Portal and went through the provider application process. The information that potentially could have been accessed included applicant name, gender, date of birth, county, application type and application status. In some instances, additional information about the applicant, as well as other individuals included in the application for benefits, could have been viewed and could include any of the following:

  • Social Security number
  • Address
  • Benefits applied for
  • Income information
  • Medical information

Officials say to date, they don’t know of any actual or attempted misuse of anyone’s personal information as a result of this incident and information indicates the risk of access or misuse is low. Officials do not have a basis to think many people were adversely impacted.

Officials say as soon as the issue was discovered, some departments shut down the ABE system Provider Portal on August 23 to fix the issue. The system was reopened on September 29. The departments notified those who were potentially impacted, the members of the Illinois General Assembly and the Office of the Illinois Attorney General on October 21.

Officials are providing one year of credit monitoring and a dedicated phone line to provide assistance and further information about this incident. Individuals with a question about this incident can call 1-844-700-0330. The assistance line is available until January 23, 2023.