The town of North Providence, Rhode Island yesterday confirmed it notified 1,804 people of a May 2025 data breach that compromised their personal information.
North Providence officials initially said no resident info was compromised when the town’s computer systems crashed on May 14, according to The Valley Breeze. Officials did not immediately cite a cyber attack as the reason for the crash.
On May 30, ransomware gang Medusa took credit for the attack and demanded a $100,000 ransom. The payment deadline passed a few days ago. North Providence officials have not verified Medusa’s claim, but an investigation by third-party forensic specialists confirmed the cyber attack was more severe than the city originally stated.
“On or about May 14, 2025 we detected a network security incident, in which an unauthorized third party accessed our network environment,” says North Providence’s notice to victims. “Our investigation, which concluded on or about June 25, 2025 determined an unauthorized third party acquired certain individual personal information during this incident.”
The city has not publicly disclosed what types of data were compromised, how attackers breached its network, or if it paid a ransom. Comparitech contacted North Providence officials for comment and will update this article if it replies.
The town is offering free credit monitoring to eligible victims, which usually implies Social Security numbers or other info that could be used for identity theft were among the data. Eligible victims have 90 days from receipt of the notice letter to sign up.
Who is Medusa?
Medusa is a ransomware gang that first surfaced in September 2019. It debuted its leak site in February 2023, where it publishes stolen data of victims who don’t pay ransoms. Medusa often uses a double-extortion approach in which victims are forced to pay both to decrypt their systems and for not selling or publishing stolen data.
Medusa has claimed 133 confirmed ransomware attacks in total, compromising 3.14 million records. Its average ransom demand is $627,000.
In 2025, Medusa took credit for 18 attacks to date, plus another 88 unconfirmed claims that have not been publicly acknowledged by the targeted organizations. In addition to North Providence, four of its other attacks this year struck government entities:
- Gateshead Council (UK) reported a January 2025 data breach for which Medusa demanded $600,000
- MRC de Maskinongé (Canada) reported a March 2025 data breach for which Medusa demanded $100,000
- Central District Health Department (USA) reported a February 2025 attack for which Medusa demanded $320,000
- Appalachian Regional Commission (USA) notified 937 people of an April 2025 data breach for which Medusa demanded $500,000
Ransomware attacks on US government
Comparitech researchers logged 43 confirmed ransomware attacks on US government entities to date in 2025, compromising 365,491 records. The average ransom is $1.3 million.
In a similar recent attack, Gaines County, TX notified 3,160 people of a February 2025 data breach claimed by ransomware gang Qilin. Qilin also took credit for a May 2025 data breach in Belvedere, CA.
Ransomware attacks on US government agencies and departments can both steal data and lock down computer systems. The attacker then demands a ransom to delete the stolen data and in exchange for a key to recover infected systems. If the target doesn’t pay, it could take weeks or even months to restore systems, data could be lost forever, and people whose data was stolen are put at greater risk of fraud.
About North Providence, Rhode Island
North Providence is home to about 34,000 people and has the distinction of being the smallest town in the smallest state.
