March 1, 2018 TOPEKA, Kan. – The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) has begun to notify individual consumers about a recent incident in which personal or protected health information was disseminated to a specific group of KDADS business associates. On February 23, 2018, KDADS became aware of a potential breach of personal…
Category: Government Sector
Germany admits hackers infiltrated federal ministries, Russian group suspected
DW reports: The German government confirmed on Wednesday that it had suffered a large cyberattack that infiltrated federal computer networks. Citing anonymous sources, German news agency dpa had earlier reported that the Russian hacking group APT28 had placed malware in a government network and infiltrated the Foreign and Defense Ministries. The sources said the malware could have…
Major data breach at Marine Forces Reserve impacts thousands
Shawn Snow reports: Roughly 21,426 people were impacted when an unencrypted email with an attachment containing personal confidential information was sent to the wrong email distribution list Monday morning. The compromised attachment included highly sensitive data such as truncated social security numbers, bank electronic funds transfer and bank routing numbers, truncated credit card information, mailing…
U.S. intel: Russia compromised seven states prior to 2016 election
Cynthia McFadden, William M. Arkin, Kevin Monahan, and Ken Dilanian report: The U.S. intelligence community developed substantial evidence that state websites or voter registration systems in seven states were compromised by Russian-backed covert operatives prior to the 2016 election — but never told the states involved, according to multiple U.S. officials. Top-secret intelligence requested by…
Connecticut state agencies targeted in cyberattack
AP reports State officials say a weekend cyberattack targeted about 160 computers at a dozen Connecticut state agencies. A spokesman for the state Department of Administrative Services says the ransomware attack was first detected Friday and state computer experts worked over the weekend to contain it. Agency spokesman Jeffrey Beckham says the attack appeared to…
Understanding Data Breaches as National Security Threats
Susan Landau writes: For decades the theft of private individuals’ data has been treated as an annoyance. Activist state attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission have pursued cases, but U.S. laws fail to treat theft of personal data as a serious crime in itself. The indictment detailing Russian activity during the 2016 presidential campaign…