Diana Alba Soular reports: A Doña Ana County, N.M., employee told county commissioners Tuesday that recent allegations of fraud within the County Clerk’s Office either didn’t stem from county computer security system breaches or there’s not enough information available to determine whether that was the case. Separately, the county clerk’s office said it’s taken new steps…
Category: U.S.
Pot Shops to Close After Owner Admits to Identity Theft
Liberty Zabala reports: A former doctor’s guilty plea in federal court Wednesday will lead to shut down of six medical marijuana clinics across San Diego County. Defendant Nelson Leone, 72, of San Diego, pleaded guilty to identity theft for issuing forged recommendations under another doctor’s name. As a result, six medical marijuana clinics he owned…
U. of Minnesota profs worry personal info hacked; no campus breach found
Alex Friedrich reports: About two dozen University of Minnesota faculty members have told administrators they suspect someone has committed tax fraud using their personal information. Two professors say they and other colleagues were unable to file federal taxes online, because the Internal Revenue Service website told them someone had already filed in their names. The…
IRS employees can use ‘password’ as a password? No wonder we get hacked
Trevor Timm writes: The public is finally starting to learn what security experts have been warning for years: the US government has no idea what it’s doing when it comes to cybersecurity. Worse, the government’s main “solutions” may leave all our data even more vulnerable to privacy violations and security catastrophes. Read more on The Guardian.
Ex-Newark cop pleads not guilty in alleged data theft scheme
Bill Wichert reports: A former Newark police officer pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges he and a city police captain sold personal information they illegally obtained from a database used by law enforcement agencies. Dressed in a light-colored suit and walking with a cane, Dino D’Elia, 49, of Nutley, made his first court appearance since he…
National Archives finds same malware that stole gov’t personnel data
Sean Gallagher reports: In the wake of the discovery of malware on the network of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the National Archives and Records Administration discovered three desktop computers that had been infected with the same remote access malware. The malware was detected by the National Archives’ own intrusion detection system after receiving signature data…