Oof. This notification from the New Jersey Spine Center, sent to patients on September 22, describes a real disaster where not only essential patient files and credit card information were locked up, but their most recent backup was too. No wonder they paid the ransom. On July 27, 2016, our computer systems were attacked by a malware…
Category: U.S.
NY: 488 affected by data breach in Mastic Beach
News12 reports: The village of Mastic Beach says 488 residents may have had their personal information stolen in a data breach by a former employee pretending to be the chief of police. Mayor Maura Spery says an 18-month audit discovered a former village employee illegally accessed highly personal information from a law enforcement database. “The…
Two more hacks with ransom demands, but is anyone paying? Part 2.
As noted in Part 1, hackers continue to issue ransom demands, but going to the media to put pressure on hacked entities does not seem to have improved their chances of convincing their victims to pay the ransom. In Part 1, I reported on what appears to be a hack of VI Pay, Inc., a payroll…
Ex-Verizon worker accused of selling customer phone records
Jeff Martin of AP reports: A former Verizon Wireless technician is accused of using the company’s computers to obtain customers’ private call records — plus data showing where customers’ phones were — and then selling them to an unnamed private investigator, federal prosecutors said. Daniel Eugene Traeger, who worked in Alabama, sold the confidential information…
UK man charged under Computer Misuse Act over US crime
Okay, I missed one where an arrest in the UK is allegedly linked to a breach in the U.S. On September 2, the Thames Valley Police announced: SEROCU’s Cyber Crime Unit has arrested a man in connection with computer misuse and fraud offences. A 37-year-old man from Reading was arrested yesterday (1/9) on suspicion of unauthorised…
California congressman sues opponent, alleging violations of CFAA
Another civil case invoking the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Jeff Matsuura and Craig Blakeley of Alliance Law Group, LLC write: Representative Mike Honda of California has sued his campaign opponent alleging violations of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). The CFAA provides for both criminal and civil actions. Although we often focus on the criminal prosecutions…