Dems to introduce cybersecurity legislation for unemployment system

Democratic legislators say the first step in solving cybersecurity issues in the state unemployment system is admitting there’s a problem.

State Reps. Jeffrey Crossman, D-Parma, and Lisa Sobecki, D-Toledo, say the state’s unemployment system “has compromised personal information and resulted in untold thousands of dollars stolen from deserving recipients” and that the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services “has refused to acknowledge a hack” on accounts.

“While (the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services) refuses to admit to hacking, we’ve heard directly from constituents who clearly have been impacted,” Crossman said in a statement.

The legislation he and Sobecki are proposing would require a state agency to pay for credit monitoring in the event of a security breach for those whose personal information was compromised. It would also “urge” Gov. Mike DeWine to investigate reported hacking via the Ohio Cyber Reserve.

The ODJFS has denied claims of hacking, but in May, Deloitte Consulting, who was under contract with the state agency, had inadvertently exposed the private information of about 130,000 people. ODJFS denied any widespread data compromise.