Westfield Fire District in Middletown, CT notified residents of a 2024 ransomware data breach
Westfield Fire District in Middletown, Connecticut notified its members and residents in 2025 that personal information had been compromised in a November 2024 ransomware incident. The ransomware group Medusa publicly claimed the attack and the district offered 24 months of credit monitoring.
What happened
According to Comparitech, Westfield Fire District in Middletown, Connecticut sent breach notification letters in 2025 disclosing that personal information had been compromised in a November 2024 cyberattack. The Medusa ransomware group took public credit for the intrusion. The district's notice stated that certain files may have contained personal information belonging to its members, meaning firefighters, employees, and volunteers, along with residents. The district offered 24 months of free credit monitoring, which under Connecticut law typically signals that Social Security numbers were among the compromised data.
What happened
In November 2024, Westfield Fire District in Middletown, Connecticut was hit by the Medusa ransomware group. Comparitech reported in May 2025 that the district had begun sending breach notifications to its members and to residents. The district's notice stated that compromised files may have contained personal information tied to fire-district members. The 24-month credit monitoring offer is the kind of remediation Connecticut law triggers when Social Security numbers are involved.
Connecticut's data breach notification statute requires entities to disclose breaches affecting state residents. Westfield Fire District filed in line with that requirement.
How it started
Small special-purpose districts, fire districts, water districts, regional emergency dispatch, often run lean. They store HR data, payroll, and sometimes patient-care records on shared servers without the budget for the security programs that protect a state agency. When ransomware gangs hit them, the volume is small but the exposure per person is high.
Firefighters, EMTs, and dispatchers whose data sat on those servers don't get an opt-out. They get a letter. In Westfield's case, the district's own notice stated that compromised files may have contained personal information belonging to its members, meaning the firefighters and employees of the district itself, alongside resident records.
What this means for you
If you're a firefighter, EMT, or dispatcher in Connecticut, the Daniel's Law-style protections currently being debated in Hartford (2026SB-00004 and 2026SB-00485) would give you a removal mechanism aimed at brokers and a property-records shield. Neither has been enacted as of this writing.
The public-records exemption (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 1-217) covers what state and municipal agencies hold, not what brokers republish. Removal is what closes the gap. We monitor and remove broker listings continuously, so a leak from a small district doesn't translate into a permanent online address.
Editorial rules: Only public, already-reported incidents. Never name a non-public victim. Always end with the prevention takeaway tied to our service. Cite at minimum one public source per claim.
What would have prevented this
A small fire district doesn't run an enterprise security program. When the records get out, firefighters' personal information sits next to residents' data on a leak site or in someone's database. Connecticut's pending data broker bill (2026SB-00004) and pending real-property shielding bill (2026SB-00485) would give first responders specific levers, but until they pass, the existing public-records exemption (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 1-217) is what's on the books. Removal at the broker is the layer that doesn't depend on a future statute.
Public sources
- Connecticut fire department notifies residents of data breach claimed by ransomware gang — Comparitech, 2024-11-15