Anthony Ha reports: The Port of Seattle released a statement Friday confirming that it was targeted by a ransomware attack. The attack occurred on August 24, with the Port (which also operates the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport) saying it had “experienced certain system outages indicating a possible cyberattack.” The Port is now describing this as “a ‘ransomware’ attack…
Category: Government Sector
Turkish Data Leak Scandal: Statements by Minister Uraloğlu and Journalist Haskoloğlu
There’s an update to another distressing “shoot-the-messenger” story where a journalist was arrested for simply reporting on a breach that the government denied (previous background). Now Railly News reports: The incident was first brought to the agenda by journalist İbrahim Haskoloğlu in 2022. Haskoloğlu was subsequently arrested after reporting that citizens’ personal data had been…
Deal made with whistleblower after Columbus’ data leak drew global attention, deal still muzzles whistleblower
There’s an update to a disturbing story that involved a Franklin County judge granting the City of Columbus a temporary restraining order against Connor Goodwolf. Goodwolf has been providing information to the media and the public about a ransomware attack on the city and was refuting the city’s claims about the impact of the attack…
IRS Information Technology Supervisor Pleads Guilty to Accepting Bribes from Government Subcontractor Whom He Attempted to Extort
Today’s insider-wrongdoing example comes to us from the government sector. The Office of Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of Justice issued the following press release: A Maryland man pleaded guilty yesterday to accepting cash bribes in exchange for helping acquaintances and their businesses procure and continue work on subcontracts with the IRS. According to…
Columbus’ head of tech claims ransomware group ignored city before data leak; Rhysida says they’re lying (1)
Mark Feuerborn and Isabel Cleary report: Columbus’ massive data leak has been described as a ransomware attack, but the city’s head of technology revealed something new Monday night about the incident: not only was there no ransom, attempts to negotiate with the hackers behind it went unanswered. The Columbus City Council was on break through August,…
Ex-Police Scotland employee charged with 44 data breaches
Today’s reminder of the need to control and regularly audit employee access to personal information comes to us from Erin Maguire in Scotland: A FORMER member of Police Scotland staff is due to stand trial after she denied 44 charges of illegally accessing the personal data of dozens of people over a period spanning four…