Akshaya Asokan reports: The June ransomware attack against one of the largest forensic labs in the U.K. continues to delay police investigations in Britain while authorities await test results. At one point, authorities were confronted with a backlog of 20,000 forensic samples – including DNA and blood-samples – that were awaiting analysis for criminal cases,…
Category: Government Sector
CBSA officer caught leaking police information to family members: internal docs
Catherine Tunney reports: A Canada Border Services Agency agent breached federal privacy law when she took a photo of confidential police information and emailed it to a member of her family, says an internal report. According to a copy of the findings, recently obtained by CBC News through access to information law, the Calgary Police…
Texas DIR issues update on coordinated ransomware attack on multiple government agencies
The Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) is leading the response to a ransomware attack against entities across Texas. Below is an update as of August 20, 2019, at approximately 3:00 p.m. central time. The number of confirmed impacted entities has been reduced to twenty-two. As of the time of this release, responders have engaged…
Hackers target Macon County Circuit Clerk website
Kennedy Nolen reports: The Macon County Circuit Clerk’s website is working again after being disabled and replaced by a screen saying it had been hacked. The web page showed an image of an anonymous mask with the Iranian flag and read, “Hacked by Iranian Hackers. Hacked by Mamad Warning. We are always closer to you….
Police recover chunk of Spotsylvania County money stolen in phishing scam
On Thursday, Scott Shenk reported some good news after a phishing attack in July stole more than $600,000 from Spotsylvania County: On Thursday afternoon, [Virginia] State Police Sgt. Brent Coffey said in a news release that they worked with local police as well as “state law enforcement in other states in order to track down…
Coordinated Ransomware Attack Hits at Least 20 Local Governments In Texas
Trey Shaar reports: A coordinated ransomware attack has affected at least 20 local government entities in Texas, the Texas Department of Information Resources said. It would not release information about which local governments have been affected. The department said the Texas Division of Emergency Management is coordinating support from other state agencies through the Texas State…