Lucy Cormack reports: When the personal data of 186,000 people was breached in a phishing attack on Service NSW in March, the weakness cyber criminals were able to exploit was actually paper. Passports, banking and Medicare details were potentially exposed in photocopied and scanned paper documents stored inside the email accounts of 47 Service NSW…
Category: Government Sector
AT: Cyber attack causes chaos in the Braunau town hall
Mario Zeko reports (translation): “The IT servers of the municipality of Braunau am Inn were the target of a hacker attack,” confirmed Mayor Johannes Waidbacher (ÖVP) and city office director Andreas Reiter of the “Krone” yesterday. Who is behind the attack is just as unclear as the details of the crime. “The responsible authorities were informed…
NL: ‘Nightmare’ for the municipality of Hof van Twente: all computer systems down due to a cyber attack
deVolkskrant reports (translated): Municipality of Hof van Twente has fallen victim to a cyber attack. All computer systems of the municipality were shut down by the attack, the data stored on the servers was destroyed. This also includes privacy-sensitive information from residents, according to the municipality. It is unclear who the perpetrators are and what the motive may…
Voter registration data for 113K Alaskans exposed in breach
Mark Thiessen of AP reports: Personal data such as driver’s license numbers and birth dates for tens of thousands of Alaskans was breached in an online voter database, but the state official overseeing elections said Thursday election results were not compromised because the online registration and vote tabulation systems are not connected. “Although some voters’…
Imprisoned hacker ordered to be released, promptly deported
AP reports: A computer hacker serving 20 years for giving the Islamic State group the personal data of more than 1,300 U.S. government and military personnel has been granted compassionate release because of the coronavirus pandemic and will be placed in ICE custody for prompt deportation, a federal judge ordered Thursday. U.S. District Judge Leonie…
NZ: Parole Board admits to privacy breach
Anan Zaki reports: The Parole Board has admitted to a privacy breach after one of its members lost a portable memory drive. The member travelled on an Air New Zealand flight from Dunedin to Hamilton on 13 November, when they lost the drive. New Zealand Parole Board chair Sir Ron Young told RNZ in a…