Jayne W. Miller reports that when Tewksbury Police discovered that the department’s network had been locked up by CryptoLocker last December, the town decided to pay the $500 bitcoin ransom. Of course, that’s exactly what experts recommend folks NOT do, as it only encourages more attacks on others, but hey, this is the same town that just…
Category: U.S.
Change.org springs a leak, exposes private e-mail addresses [updated]
Earlier this week, Dan Goodin reported: Online petitions service Change.org has a website bug that’s disclosing e-mail addresses that presumably belong to current or former subscribers. Search results suggest the number could be thousands, but a Change.org official said it was about 100. The disclosure bug was active at the time this post was being…
Horrific privacy breach by Tewksbury Public Schools
Cross-posted from PogoWasRight.org. Okay, this is really bad, on multiple levels. Brendan Foley and Jayne Miller report: Tewksbury Public Schools face angry parental backlash following the release of private student information online last week. A document included in a 222-page School Committee packet remained online for the better part of a week, before being taken…
MI: Monroe High School student hacker disrupts school district Internet
Ray Kisonas reports: A Monroe High School student is facing possible felony criminal charges after the district’s computer system was hacked and its Internet service disrupted several times over the past two weeks. The alleged cyber-hacker, a senior, has been removed from school and faces disciplinary action in addition to legal troubles. Monroe Public Schools…
FL: Broward Resident Pleads Guilty to Stealing Personally Identifiable Information of Magazine Subscription Customers
Eartha Ann Worthy, 29, of Broward County, Florida pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft for her participation in an identity theft fraud scheme involving the personally identifiable information of magazine subscription customers. According to court documents, law enforcement agents executed a search warrant…
CA: Email error exposes 845 Tulare County patients’ email addresses.
The Tulare County Health & Human Services Agency (HHSA) has announced a potential breach involving the protected health information of 845 patients seen at the Visalia and Farmersville clinics who use the online Patient Portal. The potential breach occurred on March 19, 2015, when an employee sent an email and neglected to encrypt and blind…