Brian Krebs reports: Government Payment Service Inc. — a company used by thousands of U.S. state and local governments to accept online payments for everything from traffic citations and licensing fees to bail payments and court-ordered fines — has leaked more than 14 million customer records dating back at least six years, including names, addresses, phone…
Category: Government Sector
Virus shuts down city services in Beatrice, Nebraska
Scott Koperski reports: A virus shut down many city operations this week, including phone and internet services for several departments. City Administrator Tobias Tempelmeyer said city departments lost phone and internet service in the downtown area, including city hall, the Beatrice Police Department and city auditorium, which houses Beatrice Fire and Rescue. […] It’s believed…
State Department email breach exposed employees’ personal information
Eric Geller and Nahal Toosi report: The State Department recently suffered a breach of its unclassified email system, and the compromise exposed the personal information of a small number of employees, according to a notice sent to the agency’s workforce. State described the incident as “activity of concern … affecting less than 1% of employee…
Cyber attack on Italian National Institute for Social Assistance threatens users’ personal data
Matteo Natalucci reports: The portal of the Italian National Institute for Social Assistance (INAS), has been hacked, potentially putting the personal data of its users at risk. INAS is an organisation which is part of the National Confederation of Workers’ trade unions responsible for protecting and advancing the interests of its members in the workplace….
Hundreds of Canadian federal civil servants lose personal information in data breach
Mike Le Couteur reports: Ottawa police and the federal Office of the Privacy Commissioner are investigating a significant data breach in the federal government after a device was stolen from Public Services and Procurement Canada. All 227 employees affected are at Infrastructure Canada, but they weren’t notified until more than two weeks after the breach….
Canadian Town Pays Hackers Ransom in Bitcoin (BTC)
Kalina Tekelieva reports: The ransom that the Canadian town of Midland has paid to cyber criminals to have its servers unblocked was in the form of Bitcoin (BTC), media source Global News reported last week, quoting a local spokesperson. How much Midland has paid in cryptocurrency, however, was not specified. On September 1, the town in the…