Kyle Venktess reports: Johannesburg – The eThekwini Municipality, which comprises Durban, has shut down its e-services website after it was revealed on Thursday that it was potentially leaking personal data. Fin24 reported on Thursday that the KwaZulu-Natal municipality’s e-services website is susceptible to hacking as residents’ personal information such as ID numbers and other data risks…
Category: Government Sector
White House names retired Air Force general as first cyber security chief
Dustin Volz reports: The White House on Thursday named a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general as the government’s first federal cyber security chief, a position announced eight months ago that is intended to improve defenses against hackers. Gregory Touhill’s job will be to protect government networks and critical infrastructure from cyber threats as federal chief…
Two members of “Crackas with Attitude” arrested in North Carolina
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Andrew Otto Boggs, aka “INCURSIO,” 22, of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, and Justin Gray Liverman, aka “D3F4ULT,” 24, of Morehead City, North Carolina, were arrested today on charges related to their alleged roles in the computer hacking of several senior U.S. government officials and U.S. government computer systems. According to charging documents…
Turkish hacker group says it was behind airport cyber attack
The Local reports: Austrian police are investigating whether a Turkish nationalist group was behind a failed cyber attack on Vienna airport last week. Hackers attempted to penetrate the airport’s computer systems but were prevented from doing so. In a tweet, the hacker group “Aslan Neferler Tim” or “Lion Soldiers Team” says it launched the attack…
Seattle’s New Utility Billing System Experiences Privacy Breakdown
Mike Lindblom reports: Seattle’s new billing system for utilities, already afflicted by delays and cost overruns, launched Monday morning with a data flaw that sent 3,041 customers a link to other customers’ bills, including their names, addresses and energy or water use. Along with the privacy breakdown, the city sent six to 12 redundant email notices…
DHS Exposes Thousands of Individuals’ Private Information — Including Feds, Golfers and Priests
Eric Katz reports: Customs and Border Protection released the personally identifiable information, including Social Security numbers, of thousands of individuals to dozens of federal agencies during an investigation of cheating on polygraph tests. CBP violated some aspects of the Privacy Act in distributing the information across government, the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general found in…