Tag Archive for: Louisiana

Here’s why Louisiana wants residents to change passwords after OMV hack — and how to do it | News

/in


After a massive data breach exposed at least 6 million Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles records, state officials are recommending anyone who holds a Louisiana drivers license change all of their passwords. 

That’s a huge undertaking for most people, but digital security experts say it’s a recommendation worth following for the millions of Louisianans whose personal information, including social security number and drivers license data, is exposed on the internet. 

Why should you change your passwords?

The personal information exposed in the OMV hack has the potential to arm someone with everything they need to access an online account except for the password, said Abe Baggili, an LSU professor and cybersecurity expert. 

Many online services ask users to fill out security questions about personal details as a way to confirm someone’s identity during a password reset. The OMV hack exposed enough information that a hacker could now answer those questions or figure out the answers, Baggili said. 

A hacker with access to the leaked personal information could also now craft an extremely sophisticated phishing email in an attempt to steal usernames, passwords, credit card numbers and other data, Baggili said. 

“You fall victim to this because it looks super legitimate, it looks like it’s coming from the right place and it looks like they have enough information about you to make it believable that they know who you are,” Baggili said.

How should you change your passwords?

The solution is fairly simple and is something people should probably already be doing, Baggili said. 

“We live in an age where at this point and time a password manager is essential,” Baggili said. 

Password managers secure all your passwords in one place, can alert you if a password has been leaked anywhere online and can allow you to quickly and easily change passwords to be more secure. Many internet browsers offer password managers built in to the browser, but a dedicated, seperate password manager are considered more secure.

…

Source…

Universities across Louisiana shut down due to internet system issues

/in


NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Five colleges and universities across Louisiana shut down internet systems after detecting a possible hack.

The five schools are the University of New Orleans, Nunez community college, LSU Agricultural Center, Southern University at Shreveport, and River Parishes Community College Gonzales.

Around 7:00 p.m. Friday (March 24th), students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the UNO began experiencing issues regarding connectivity issues.

The University took to Twitter to address the system issue.

At this time the system issue is being investigated by the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, as well as the Louisiana State Police.

Each college’s internet system can go back online after they are determined to be secure.

Latest Posts:

Source…

Louisiana Tech students receive positive recognition for hacking | North Louisiana

/in


Cyber engineering, computer science team publishes a paper and presents research on popular app vulnerabilities

Hacking a safety app netted a Louisiana Tech University Computer Science graduate student a publishing credit, a trip to Hawaii, and the opportunity to present the research at an international conference.

Louisiana Tech Cyber Engineering alumnus and current MS Computer Science and CyberCorps Scholarship for Service student Jonah Fitzgerald (‘22), along with fellow Cyber Engineering program alumni Thomas Mason (‘22) and Brian Mulhair (‘22), discovered a vulnerability in the Louisiana Department of Health COVID Defense contact tracing app that allows hackers to attack neighboring devices.

As seniors researching a paper assignment for Dr. William Bradley Glisson’s Computer Science 448/543, Cyber Engineering 404 “Reverse Engineering” class, the team discovered the symptoms history share feature of the app could be modified to send a malicious link via email, WIFI, and nearby share systems. The team was able to demonstrate two attacks using the link: They were able to harvest credentials by redirecting users to a fake page resembling the My.LA.Gov page and installing an Android app on the target phone to access all the information in that phone.

With additional guidance from Glisson, the team improved their results, presented the research to Glisson’s Cybersecurity Information Technology Exploration Research Group, and submitted the paper to the conference.

Fitzgerald then had the opportunity to travel to Ka’anapali Beach on the island of Maui to present the team’s findings at the 56th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences “Internet and the Digital Economy” track and “Cybercrime” mini-track.

“I wanted to get involved with this research because I felt I could make a meaningful contribution to improving mobile app security and fighting the COVID-19 pandemic,” Fitzgerald said. “I feel that my Tech education in cyber engineering prepared me for success in solving these types of problems by rapidly learning new concepts like reverse engineering and tackling tough challenges in…

Source…

Hackers accessed data on 270,000 patients from Louisiana hospital system in attempted ransomware attack

/in


Lake Charles Memorial Health System, which includes a 314-bed hospital, thwarted the hackers’ attempt to encrypt its computers and prevented any disruption to patient care, according to spokesperson Allison Livingston. The health care provider’s own security team detected the hack, Livingston said in an email.

Source…