A former D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) employee who provided 645 youth offenders’ identity information to a tax refund fraud ring was sentenced today. Marc A. Bell pleaded guilty in January for his role in the scheme that filed more than 12,000 fraudulent tax returns seeking at least $42 million in refunds. According to the Department…
Category: Government Sector
State audit finds concerns with data security, accounting practices in Ozark County
KY3 reports: Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway on Monday released an audit of Ozark County. The audit report describes weaknesses in cybersecurity measures and accounting practices in several county offices. Some offices lacked sufficient password protection controls, including a lack of requirements and the use of shared passwords to access county computers. Other offices failed…
Anonymous PH calls for release of COMELEC website hacker
Tetch Torres-Torres reports: Members of Anonymous Philippines trooped to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday and called for the release of their member currently in detention and facing charges for defacing the Commission on Elections (Comelec) website last March. Clad in Guy Fawkes masks, the group said Paul Z. Biteng should be released from…
ISIS hackers publish hit list of US military men
ARY News reports: A group claiming to be hackers for Islamic State (ISIS) has published a ‘hit list’ of more than 70 US military men who have allegedly been involved in drone strikes against terrorists in Syria. The Sunday Times, a British newspaper, said the hackers have links with Britain and call themselves ‘Islamic State…
Election fraud feared as hackers target voter records
In the past year, this site has reported on a number of breaches involving voter data: the massive database with 191 million U.S. voters’ data that Chris Vickery uncovered, a second smaller database he uncovered of U.S. voters’ data that included 19 million profiles, a breach involving more than 50 million Turkish citizens, one involving 55 million…
UK: Anger and resignations after Welwyn Hatfield Council security breach
Some people take the security of their email addresses very seriously. Alex Lewis reports: An official at Welwyn Hatfield Council sent a routine email to members of the Borough Panel, a formal consultation group with 510 members, but forgot to “blind copy” it. Consequently, everybody receiving the message, about a draft council tax support scheme…