Princeton officials now say confidential and personal information was taken from city systems during a cybersecurity incident reported in September.
The City of Princeton now says confidential and personally identifiable information was taken from its systems during a cybersecurity incident first reported in September.
In an update Monday, the city said its continuing investigation confirmed data was removed from its systems.
“On October 5, the City identified that information was exfiltrated from City systems,” the city said.
Officials said the information includes confidential information and personally identifiable information, or PII. Princeton is working with cybersecurity professionals to determine the full scope of the incident, including what information was involved and which individuals may have been affected.
The finding marks a change from earlier in the investigation, when officials said reviews had not identified evidence that personal information had been compromised.
According to the city, its continuing forensic investigation “has since identified additional information requiring further review.”
Previous NBC 5 reporting found that a ransomware group had claimed responsibility for the attack and said it had access to nearly two gigabytes of data taken from the city’s internal file server.
At the time, a cybersecurity expert told NBC 5 that the group’s post claimed the data included residential addresses, accounts, court records and forensic copies.
The city has not yet said which specific information was confirmed to have been taken or how many people may be affected.
Princeton said once its review determines which individuals and information were affected, the city will notify impacted people in accordance with the law and provide resources, including identity protection and credit monitoring services.
The investigation remains ongoing, according to the city. Essential city services continue to operate normally.
