Does anyone remember the massive data security incident involving the University of Maryland in 2014? Here’s a link to some of this site’s preliminary coverage of that breach. Hundreds of thousands impacted, lots of media coverage and analyses, and you’d hope that the state would have learned its lesson about storing and protecting student and…
Category: Government Sector
Ca: RCMP sent confidential details of suicide attempt to wrong email chain: report
Catharine Tunney reports: The RCMP inadvertently sent an account of someone’s suicide attempt to the wrong email chain, leaving the details in the inboxes of more than 160 people, according to a report on the mishap. The email included the person’s name and date of birth, details of the suicide attempt, the injuries they sustained…
MA: New Bedford: public release of info on cyber attack could put city at further risk
Jack Spillane reports: Cyber professionals have “strongly advised” the city against providing any details about the impacts of a computer virus that has shut down municipal computers for more than a week. Jonathan Carvalho, the city’s public information officer, released a statement late Friday that said New Bedford continues to implement restoration plans on its…
AZ: Gila County experiences major interruption in technical service
Teresa Mcquerrey reports: Gila County’s email and phone systems were apparently infected by ransomware starting July 2. It took a week before most of its online services were restored. […] As of press time, the county had released no official statement about the cause or scope of the problem with its online services. Read more…
Estonian information authority urges attention to cybersecurity following breaches
Baltic News Service reports: The Information System Authority (RIA) has urged both individuals and businesses to take seriously the issue of data protection and security. The announcement follows several recent, potentially serious data leaks, involving the retail and service sector, as well as one municipality, Baltic News Service reports. Breaches occurring happened over the past…
US mayors group adopts resolution not to pay any more ransoms to hackers
Catalin Cimpanu reports: The US Conference of Mayors unanimously adopted yesterday a resolution not to pay any more ransom demands to hackers following ransomware infections. “Paying ransomware attackers encourages continued attacks on other government systems, as perpetrators financially benefit,” the adopted resolution reads. Read more on ZDNet.