Joseph Marks reports: It took the General Services Administration more than 800 days to notify a handful of people that it had accidentally exposed their personal information, according to an audit released Friday. In another case, the agency took six months just to determine that a data breach related to background investigation information had occurred,…
Category: Government Sector
Indiana National Guard reports ransomware attack to server
WISH-TV reports: The Indiana National Guard revealed Thursday that a state, nonmilitary server with identifying information of its personnel was the subject of a ransomware attack. The Guard said in a news release from Master Sgt. Jeff Lowry: “As a result of this action we are in the process of notifying personnel that may be affected,…
CT: City pays USD 2,000 in computer ransomware attack
AP reports: A Connecticut city has paid USD 2,000 to restore access to its computer system after a ransomware attack. West Haven officials said Thursday they paid the money to anonymous attackers through the digital currency bitcoin to unlock 23 servers and restore access to city data. Read more on Deccan Chronicle.
Hackers breach HealthCare.gov system, get data on 75,000
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar reports: A government computer system that interacts with HealthCare.gov was hacked earlier this month, compromising the sensitive personal data of some 75,000 people, officials said Friday. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services made the announcement late in the afternoon ahead of a weekend, a time slot agencies often use to release unfavorable…
State officials grill Minnesota DHS over two breaches
KSTP reports: On Wednesday, state leaders addressed two recent data breaches at the Department of Human Services. […] “Could you please try and help us connect why there was such a failure here of four months before folks were notified of the compromising situation of their private data?” asked Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, (R) Big Lake….
Hackers hit Onslow County utility with ransomware attack
WNCT reports: The Onslow Water and Sewer Authority‘s internal computer system, including servers and personal computers, was hit by a ransomware attack Saturday. […] ONWASA began experiencing persistent virus attacks from a polymorphic malware known as EMOTET on October 4…….. At what ONWASA officials said may have been a timed event, the malware launched a…