When is a “hack” not a “hack?” When a government entity mistakenly gives journalists access to files that just maybe, they didn’t intend to give them access to….. Tim De Chant reports: The city of Fullerton, California, has agreed to pay $350,000 to settle a lawsuit it brought against two bloggers it accused of hacking the city’s…
Category: U.S.
Colonial Pipeline confirms it paid $4.4 million to hackers
Cathy Bussewitz of AP reports: The operator of the nation’s largest fuel pipeline confirmed it paid $4.4 million to a gang of hackers who broke into its computer systems. Colonial Pipeline said Wednesday that after it learned of the May 7 ransomware attack, the company took its pipeline system offline and needed to do everything…
Cyberattack targeting Alaska’s state health department website disrupts some online services
From the Anchorage Daily News: A malware attack targeting the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services’ website has prompted the disruption of some online services as the website remains unavailable to the public, the state health department said Tuesday evening. Investigators have not yet determined whether the cyberattack compromised confidential or personal information, DHSS…
Despite an alert from NYS DFS, some insurance companies with “instant quote” portals were victimized
On February 16, the NYS Department of Financial Services issued a cybersecurity fraud alert involving public-facing web sites where consumers could request “instant quotes” for car insurance or other products. The alert warned insurers that private information used to prefill requests was being stolen and misused for pandemic unemployment benefits fraud. At the time, they…
Public school districts on both coasts hit by ransomware
Two more public school districts have announced they were hit by ransomware. Visalia Unified School District in California announced on Tuesday that the ransomware had impacted the operation of the district’s IT systems. YourCentralValley.com reported: The district said many IT systems are offline until further notice and that local and federal law enforcement have been…
Health Plan of San Joaquin notifying more than 420,000 of email hack last year
On or about October 12, Health Plan of San Joaquin (HPSJ) learned of unusual activity affecting its email system. On October 23, 2020, the investigation determined that an unknown person(s) had accessed a number of HPSJ employee email accounts between September 26, 2020 and October 12, 2020. Yesterday, HPSJ sent out notifications and notified the…