Andrew Crocker of EFF responds to the announcement this week by DOJ about its revised policy for enforcement of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act: The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), the notoriously vague anti-hacking law, is long overdue for major reform. Among many problems, the CFAA has been used to target security researchers whose work…
Category: U.S.
Trust Stamp, a facial recognition company with a $7.2 million ICE contract, had dozens of peoples’ data exposed in breach
Caroline Haskins reports: Trust Stamp, a government contractor that develops facial recognition and surveillance tools for agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement, left the personal information of several dozen people unsecured on a breached database, Insider has learned. This information included names, birthdays, home addresses, and driver’s license data. An anonymous tipster who said they…
Fraudster who hacked SUNY Plattsburgh accounts gets 9 ¼ year prison sentence
Robert Gavin reports: A federal judge sentenced Michael P. Fish to 9 ¼ years in prison Friday, saying he depravedly hacked into the accounts of dozens of unsuspecting female students at SUNY Plattsburgh, stole their private photos and sold the images on the internet. With his family watching on a courtroom bench, the 26-year-old Fish sat in…
Battelle for Kids ransomware attack compromised records of 560,000 Chicago Public School students, employee
Nader Issa and Lauren FitzPatrick report: A massive data breach has exposed four years’ worth of records of almost 500,000 Chicago Public Schools students and nearly 60,000 employees, district officials told principals Friday. The attack targeted a company that has a no-bid contract with the district for teacher evaluations and involved basic student and staff…
Missouri man pleads guilty to fraud scheme that used stolen identities of Johnson County employees
KTTN reports: A Missouri man pleaded guilty in federal court to his role in a fraud scheme that utilized the stolen identities of Johnson County, Kansas, government employees to make fraudulent purchases. Michael B. Becher, 40, of Raytown, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to participating in a conspiracy to commit credit…
NYC Education Dept. will roll out its own online gradebook after security breach and data hack
Michael Elsen-Rooney reports: The New York City Education Department is planning to roll out its own online grading and attendance system to replace a widely-used platform that was hacked earlier this year, exposing the personal information of nearly one million students. The new system, developed by the agency’s IT team, will launch in beta form…