Jeff Mays and Murray Weiss report: The hacking attack that left city agencies unable to receive some emails last week may have originated from somewhere near Russia and was an attempt to scam city employees and others out of money, according to law enforcement sources. And it may be more widespread than previously believed, with workers at…
Category: Government Sector
UK: Havering Council has accidently leaked more than 2,000 email addresses
Ralph Blackburn reports: More than 2,000 residents’ email addresses have been accidently leaked by Havering Council. The email was advertising a recruitment event and was sent to a mailing list of 2,248 people from the homes and housing office on Tuesday. The council tried to recall the message, but instead it was sent out four…
Police probe video of possible data hack at the National Archives
Did hackers access protected data at the National Archives or didn’t they? It’s not clear, as Elise Viebeck and Cory Bennett report: The National Archives acknowledged Wednesday that it has alerted law enforcement to a suspicious video posted online by hackers who purport to have gained access to agency files. Released on YouTube earlier this month,…
AU: Anonymous member charged over revenge hacking of Australian intelligence websites
Dan Oakes reports: A Melbourne man, allegedly part of the Anonymous online collective, has been charged over the revenge hacking of Australian intelligence agency websites. Mathew John Hutchison faced Melbourne Magistrates Court this week, accused of urging Indonesian hackers to attack the websites of ASIO, the Australian Signals Directorate and Australia’s overseas spy agency, ASIS….
No sign of data breach after Centcom laptops stolen, U.S. Attorney says
Howard Altman reports: The U.S. Attorney’s Office says that there are no signs of a data breach caused by the theft of five laptop computers from U.S. Central Command sometime in April 2013. “There is no indication of a data breach at this point,” said spokesman William Daniels. “As cases proceed, we always remain open…
IL: Midlothian cops pay ransom to retrieve data from hacker
Gregory Pratt reports: A south suburban police department paid a $500 ransom to an unidentified hacker to regain access to data from a police computer the hacker managed to disable, records show. Midlothian in January was hit with a form of computer virus called Cryptoware, said Calvin Harden Jr., an IT vendor who works with…