Aaron Leibowitz reports: Hackers stole the encryption key to a software system at the Melrose Police Station on Thursday evening, compelling the department to pay the hackers one Bitcoin to regain control, Chief Michael Lyle told the Free Press on Monday. The attack came in the form of an email sent to the entire department…
Category: U.S.
Update: Second arrest in Jackson State U. data breach (updated)
Jasmina Alston reports that a second student has now been arrested in connection with the theft – and creation of a searchable database of – 40,000 Jacksonville State University student and faculty data. According to the university, suspects obtained the data by using log in information for a management database used by an institutional office. This is still…
Los Angeles County health department targeted in ransomware attack
Abby Sewell reports that Los Angeles County Department of Health Services computers were hit with a ransomware attack just days after a similar attack on Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. The attack was on a smaller scale and the county did not pay any ransom. Nor, it seems, did they need to. Spokesman Michael Wilson said the agency…
IL: FHN Memorial Hospital reveals hard drive with patient info was stolen in December
Adam Poulisse reports: A computer hard drive containing patient information was stolen from FHN Memorial Hospital in December. The hard drive did not contain medical records, but did have internal reports and spreadsheets with patient data, according to a FHN news release. The files may have included a patient’s name, Social Security number, contact information,…
BJC HealthCare Accountable Care Organization Notifies Patients of Unencrypted Email
(Feb. 26, 2016, ST. LOUIS) – BJC HealthCare Accountable Care Organization (BJC ACO) has notified 2,393 patients that identifying information was sent to a participating medical practice through an unencrypted email. All affected patients have been offered identity theft protection free of charge. BJC ACO discovered on Dec. 30, 2015, that an email containing health information…
Snapchat “just impossibly sorry” after employee payroll data compromised in BEC scam
John Russell reports that a number of Snapchat’s current and former employees had their payroll information stolen after an employee fell for what has become a common attack known as BEC (Business Email Compromise). In BEC, a scammer poses as a corporate executive and sends an email requesting payroll or customer data. “Last Friday, Snapchat’s payroll department was targeted by an…