Devin Coldewey reports: The FCC has come clean on the fact that a purported hack of its comment system last year never actually took place, after a report from its inspector general found a lack of evidence supporting the idea. Chairman Ajit Pai blamed the former chief information officer and the Obama administration for providing…
Category: Government Sector
Washington County report traces path of leaked information
CJ Lovelace reports: A document alleging sexual harassment by a Washington County commissioner was leaked to the father of a local TV news reporter, leading to a 2017 news report about it, according to a county investigative report released Thursday. The report, which was completed a year ago, says 10 county employees were interviewed about…
Joint Base Charleston notifies airmen of possible breach of personal information
Harve Jacobs reports: A mistake made at a medical clinic caused a potential breach of personal information of current and former airmen at Joint Base Charleston. The base says folders of paper records were improperly created at a base clinic. A former airman says he received a letter from the 628th medical group mentioning a “potential…
After Singapore medical data hack, Hong Kong’s Department of Health becomes latest cyberattack victim
Clifford Lo reports that the HK Department of Health might have caught a break on a recent ransomware attack: Hong Kong’s Department of Health has become the latest victim of a cyberattack after three of its computers were hit by ransomware which left data inaccessible, prompting police to open a criminal investigation. The targeted computers…
BitPaymer Ransomware Infection Forces Alaskan Town to Use Typewriters for a Week
Catalin Cimpanu reports: On Monday, officials from Matanuska-Susitna (Mat-Su), a borough part of the Anchorage Metropolitan Statistical Area, said they are still recovering from a ransomware infection that took place last week, on July 24. The ransomware infection crippled the Borough’s government networks and has led to the IT staff shutting down a large swath…
Public Safety Hack of D.C. police cameras was part of ransomware scheme, prosecutors say
Peter Hermann reports: When hackers took over two-thirds of D.C. police’s surveillance cameras days before the 2017 presidential inauguration, it appeared that the cyberattack was limited to elicit a single ransom payment. But court documents show that the alleged scheme that January was far more ambitious. Federal authorities say two Romanians accused in the hacking…