Chris Kenning reports the latest development in a case this site has been following since January (search “Brochez” for other coverage). Mikhy Farrera Brochez on Tuesday (Mar 19) pleaded not guilty in a US federal court in Kentucky to charges related to stolen identification documents from Singapore’s HIV registry, according to his lawyer Jay Oakley. The American, who is…
Category: Government Sector
NC: Hackers demand ransom from Orange County for 3rd time in 6 years
Holden Kurwicki reports: A local county is being held hostage by hackers who could have access to your private information at their fingertips. The Orange County IT Department is working hand in hand with outside agencies to hunt down hackers who have invaded county computer servers with ransomware. [..] “We have public computers at the…
Bitcoin Ransomware Cripples Boston Legal System for Two Weeks
P. H. Madore reports: Boston public defenders suffered a ransomware attack some weeks back but have chosen not to send the bitcoin demanded by the attacker. Instead, they decided to use back-ups to restore services. The Committee oversees public defenders in Boston. According to the Boston Globe, that decision has meant a “weekslong slowdown” that…
Privacy breach leads to embarassing award for Nova Scotia
As a follow-up to a Nova Scotia privacy breach previously noted on this site, The Chronicle Herald has an update with a government and police smackdown by EFF. Aaron Beswick explains: The Nova Scotia government received a cyber-security award this week. But it wasn’t a good one. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an online non-profit group…
Chinese Government Officials Face Ransomware Attack
Samuel Haig reports: A statement issued by a Chinese provincial government website has announced that the National Network and Information Security Information Center has identified overseas hackers targeting the websites of government departments with emails containing ransomware. The ransomware was delivered via an email containing the subject line: “You must report to the police at…
Stolen N.W.T. laptop was among dozens that were unencrypted and handed out to unsuspecting staff anyway
This is Part 3 of a 3-part series on a stolen laptop. If you missed the earlier parts, you can find them here: Part 1 and Part 2. Priscilla Hwang reports: The N.W.T. government’s information technology division knew a set of laptops were “very difficult” to encrypt, but still handed it out for government staff…