ARLNow reports: (Updated at 5:20 p.m.) Arlington County has revealed a cyber attack that penetrated the county’s payroll system. In a statement, the county says a number of employees were impacted by the intrusion, but did not specify the exact number or impacts. The intrusion appears to be the result of a “phishing” email targeting…
Category: Government Sector
Unsecured databases leak 90 million records of people and businesses in China
Dev Kundaliya reports: Two databases lying unprotected on the internet leaked records of more than 90 million people and businesses in China last week, a security researcher has claimed. The databases belonged to the Jiangsu Provincial Public Security Department in China and contained more than 26GB of data. In total, they contained 58,364,777 citizen records…
Malware attack disables government computer systems in LaPorte, Indiana
Nick Pappas reports: According to LaPorte County Commission President Dr. Vidya Kora, county employees will not have access to any government email or website for at least a couple days. Authorities say that the county experienced a malware attack that occurred on Saturday morning, disabling computer and email systems. Read more on ABC.
UK: Security Medway Council reforms eforms to stop blurting out residents’ details
Jude Karabus reports: Medway council in Kent has corked a hole in its website that spat out residents’ names, mailing addresses, phone numbers and email addresses after a Reg reader got in touch to complain. The breach appeared courtesy of some of Medway Council’s electronic forms. The council’s eforms were conceived during a collaboration of…
Sometimes, paying the ransom doesn’t solve the problems
Paying ransom doesn’t always guarantee that a ransomware victim will be able to recover all of the encrypted data. Some more food for thought in a news story today about ransomware in the New York Times that highlights how small government entities are being targeted recently: The F.B.I. said it had received nearly 1,500 ransomware…
Mystery of NSA Leak Lingers as Stolen Document Case Winds Up
Tami Abdollah and Eric Tucker of AP report on what is arguably the most significant insider breach in our government of this century: Federal agents descended on the suburban Maryland house with the flash and bang of a stun grenade, blocked off the street and spent hours questioning the homeowner about a theft of government…