Milton J. Valencia reports that recidivist hacker Cameron Lacroix (aka “cam0,” “Freak,” and “leetjones”) was sentenced to four years in prison for a variety of hacking crimes that included accessing the computer accounts of three professors at Bristol Community College in New Bedford and changing grades for himself and two friends hacking into a local police chief’s…
Potential data breach at Arizona State Retirement System; 44,000 retirees affected
Craig Harris reports: Nearly 44,000 state retirees may have had their personal data compromised in a security breach, and the Arizona State Retirement System is spending about $291,000 to provide identity-protection services for them. The pension system this month began notifying affected retirees, all of whom were enrolled in the ASRS dental plans. […] Cannella said the…
Former TSA worker sentenced for ID theft fraud using stolen student identity info
Paula McMahon reports an update to a case previously noted on this site: A Broward man was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for identity theft and wire fraud last week after admitting he used Miami-Dade County public school students’ stolen identities to file illegal tax returns. Donald Claude, 34, of Miramar,…
Attacks on cities’ systems reported
Fox10 in Phoenix reports that the City of Phoenix’s internet system was under attack by hackers over the weekend. And the email system for the city of Mobile, Alabama was under heavy attack last week by hackers who used the system to send out spam. No personal information was reportedly compromised in either of the attacks,…
Feds identify suspected ‘second leaker’ for Snowden reporters
Michael Isikoff reports: The FBI has identified an employee of a federal contracting firm suspected of being the so-called “second leaker” who turned over sensitive documents about the U.S. government’s terrorist watch list to a journalist closely associated with ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden, according to law enforcement and intelligence sources who have been briefed on the…
Researchers identify sophisticated Chinese cyberespionage group
Ellen Nakashima reports: A coalition of security researchers has identified a Chinese cyberespionage group that appears to be the most sophisticated of any publicly known Chinese hacker unit and targets not only U.S. and Western government agencies but also dissidents inside and outside China. News of the state-sponsored hacker group dubbed Axiom comes a week…