A 2024 data breach of Rhode Island's online portal for social services has prompted a local lawmaker to introduce a bill to modernize cybersecurity laws. Doing so will better protect the personally identifiable information of Rhode Islanders, state Sen. Victoria Gu and state Rep. Lauren H. Carson say. “In the wake of the RIBridges cyberattack, it’s important to set clear expectations that state agencies, municipalities and companies should be meeting current best practices of an industry-recognized cybersecurity framework, such as NIST Cybersecurity Framework, to protect the personally identifiable information of Rhode Islanders,” said Gu (D-Dist. 38, Westerly, Charlestown, South Kingstown), who chairs the Senate Committee on Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies. “Our current laws governing the protection of this information need updating to match the reality of our increasingly digital world and its threats.” The December 2024 breach of RIBridges affected around 650,000 people in total, releasing Social Security numbers, employment details, financial data and other personal information to the dark web. Gu and Carson saw this as a clear sign that Rhode Island needed to update its cybersecurity standards. “As our lives become increasingly digital, it is no surprise that identity theft is one of the fastest growing cybercrimes," said Representative Carson (D-Dist. 75, Newport). "We are no strangers to large data breaches here in Rhode Island, and many of us were asked to take steps to protect ourselves after the RIBridges attack. But just asking residents to protect themselves is insufficient. Especially as AI and related technologies grow in capability and popularity, we as legislators need to take serious steps to make sure Rhode Islanders are protected. It is time to update our identity theft protections, which have seen minimal changes over the last decade — an eternity considering how technology and our digital lives have changed since