Steven Adair writes: In the wake of the 2016 United States Presidential Election, not even six hours after Donald Trump became the nation’s President-Elect, an advanced persistent threat (APT) group launched a series of coordinated and well-planned spear phishing campaigns. Volexity observed five different attack waves with a heavy focus on U.S.-based think tanks and…
Category: Education Sector
TN: Vanderbilt U. Psychological & Counseling Center exposed students’ names in email survey
Sarah Friedman reports: This afternoon, the Psychological & Counseling Center sent an email out to 468 of its clients without blocking the recipients from seeing each other’s names. The content of the email was a satisfaction survey regarding the student’s recent visit to the center. Several students responded to all recipients of the email with…
East Baton Rouge school system caught up in bizarre “phishing” email fraud using Superintendent Warren Drake’s name, $46,500 lost in wire transfers
Charles Lussier reports: The top business manager for the East Baton Rouge Parish school system fell for an unsophisticated con, wiring $46,500 to someone who claimed via email to be Superintendent Warren Drake, even though the man himself was working in an office next door. The school system on Thursday disclosed the fraud known as…
Thousands of college email accounts hacked
Lacy Herbert reports: The FBI is warning colleges and universities about cybersecurity concerns for student email accounts. Jonathan Powell was arrested this week, accused of hacking into more than 2,000 emails at two universities and accessing student directories and log-in information at 75 other schools. Authorities say he used password reset tools, stealing students’ personal…
Arizona man arrested for hacking email accounts at universities
Nate Raymond reports: An Arizona man was arrested on Wednesday on charges that he hacked into over 1,000 email accounts for students and others at two universities and tried to do the same at 75 other higher-education institutions throughout the country. Jonathan Powell, a 29-year-old Phoenix resident, was arrested based on a criminal complaint filed…
NZ: Novopay botch up creates security breach for school staff
From Fuseworks Media: Some schools have been sent the full payroll information of other schools this week in what appears to be a significant privacy breach by Novopay, the school payroll service. The principal of Hamilton West School, Mark Penman, says his school was sent a payroll report known as the SUE report, containing the…