File this under the “small breach, big harm” category, as the media got hold of the story, which created significant problems for the lawmakers involved. Thomas Berry, a former employee of the Dakota County Water Resources Department, pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor charge involving violating the privacy of two lawmakers. Berry admitted improperly accessing and…
Category: Government Sector
DOJ Hacker Also Accessed Forensic Reports and State Department Emails
Joseph Cox reports: …. In a previous interview with Motherboard, the hacker who dumped details about 20,000 Federal Bureau of Investigation and 9,000 Department of Homeland Security employees claimed he had also downloaded around 200GB of internal government files. A number of other hacked files have been obtained by Motherboard, and include apparent digital forensics reports from…
“Cracka” arrested by U.K. police? (Updated)
William Turton reports that “Cracka” has been arrested: A 15-year-old boy was arrested in the East Midlands, England, on Tuesday, for allegedly hacking the personal email account of the CIA director and releasing the personal information of 11,000 government agents. The hacker known as “cracka” was arrested on multiple counts of suspicion of conspiracy to commit unauthorized…
Former Tampa Police Department Employee Pleads Guilty To Computer Intrusion
There’s an update to a breach previously reported on this site. Last Friday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida reported that Tonia Bright (53, Tampa) pleaded guilty to two counts of obtaining information from a protected computer for a fraudulent purpose. According to the plea agreement, Bright was a civilian employee of…
ZA: Espionage feared in laptop theft
Mayibongwe Maqhina reports: The DA suspects espionage might be at play in the theft of laptops belonging to members. KwaZulu-Natal DA MPL Francois Rodgers and another staff member lost their laptops and other equipment in separate theft incidents in Kokstad within a month. Rodgers said the home of a party staff member was broken into on…
IRS Statement on E-filing PIN Attack
Feb. 9 – The IRS recently identified and halted an automated attack upon its Electronic Filing PIN application on IRS.gov. Using personal data stolen elsewhere outside the IRS, identity thieves used malware in an attempt to generate E-file PINs for stolen social security numbers. An E-file pin is used in some instances to electronically file…