Tag Archive for: NBC

University of California Victim of Nationwide Hack Attack – NBC Los Angeles

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The University of California is warning its students and staff that a ransomware group might have stolen and published their personal data and that of hundreds of other schools, government agencies and companies nationwide.

A cybersecurity attack targeted a vulnerability in Accellion, a third-party vendor that is used to securely transfer files, the university said in a statement Wednesday.

“We understand those behind this attack have published online screenshots of personal information, and we will notify members of the UC community if we believe their data was leaked in this manner,” the university said.

The hacker or hackers also have been sending threatening mass emails threatening to publish data “in an attempt to scare people into giving them money,” the statement said.

In an update Friday, the university system said the cyberattack affected about 300 organizations, “including universities, government institutions and private companies.”

Other schools, including Stanford University’s School of Medicine and Yeshiva University in New York City, have reported that student and employee Social Security numbers and financial information were stolen and that some were posted online.

The information was obtained in December and January when hackers exploited a vulnerability in a 20-year-old Accellion file transfer service, various reports have said. However, some organizations said they only recently became aware of the breach.

The Baltimore Sun on Thursday reported that private information of staff members and students at the University of Maryland, Baltimore was posted online this week. The school said a hacking group known as Clop gained access to Accellion in December, the Sun said.

The University of Colorado and the University of Miami reported that files were accessed in January and included personal data and some health, study and research data.

The Washington State Auditor’s Office reported last month that information on nearly 1.5 million unemployment applicants had been stolen.

Accellion released a statement in March that said it had closed “all known” vulnerabilities and no new ones had been found.

Ransomware attacks on a massive…

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Unemployment Benefits Fraud Could Cost $300 Billion Nationwide – NBC 7 San Diego

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Billions of dollars have been stolen from California’s unemployment benefits. Criminals have targeted the state’s Employment Development Department, which was unprepared for the wave of applications it received because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Those benefits have attracted the largest cyber attack in terms of fraud in American history,” said Blake Hall, CEO of the authentication company ID.me. “The fraud rates that we’re seeing are over 10 times what we usually see at federal agencies.”

ID.me is a company used to verify that people are who they say they are. Hall says they’ve worked to verify identities everywhere from the Social Security Administration to doctors writing prescriptions for medication.

“Identity verification is an enormously complex space,” said Hall.

Hall says if you had talked about increasing the security of California’s unemployment department’s computer systems a year and a half ago, no one would have taken you seriously.

“EDD, like many of the other state workforce agencies we work with, are on 1980s technology,” said Hall. “We have a duty to sound the alarm bell to say if you’re going to distribute $600, $700 billion in aid, you better make sure you have the right security measures in place.”

Part of the problem is many of our authentication systems are out of date.

“We have been focusing on where the bad guys were, not where they are,” said James Lee, COO of the Identity Theft Resource Center. “The whole unemployment fraud situation has been the biggest wakeup call in a decade.”

That fraud is hurting people who actually need the money. Hall says criminals are applying for the checks in California because it is a richer state. That means the fake applications are clogging up the system.

“We have always seen a fraud rate north of 50% every single time,” said Hall. “If a criminal files in the name of somebody who needs unemployment, if that person files second, they’re going to get locked out.”

That means if someone has your information, they could steal the money that you qualify for. Hall showed NBC 7 screenshots from chat rooms on the dark web listing drivers licenses and other identifying information for sale.

“When you…

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Keeping your information safe as you file taxes online – NBC 15 WPMI

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Keeping your information safe as you file taxes online  NBC 15 WPMI

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School Districts Dealing With Broken Water Pipes, Fried Computer Servers and Mold Concerns – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

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Schools across North Texas are dealing with the same problems that many peoples’ homes are: buildings went without power and pipes are broken. Now that the power is back on in many areas, schools are trying to figure out just how bad the damage truly is.

Tractor-trailers rolled to Harpool Middle School in Denton ISD carrying massive dehumidifiers. The district is using them to dry out the building after two inches of water spread through 120,000 square feet of space.

“It’s not just water on the ground, it’s technology and computers, and teachers’ set up and materials that we deliver in instruction,” Denton ISD Superintendent Jamie Wilson said. “It was the bottom floor and the fire suppression went off and before we could get there to turn it off we were knee-deep.”

Wilson said several schools were being cleaned up, but Harpool would likely be moved to remote learning or to upper floors through spring break.

Schools across the area are trying to clean up, eager to get students learning again. They’ve already lost so much this school year and the hits just keep coming.

“It’s caused us to be flexible and that’s the nice way to say it,” Grand Prairie ISD spokesperson Sam Buchmeyer said.

He said technology crews were working to try to make sure computer systems and servers were back up and running after the power kept getting shut on and off — not ideal for computer equipment.

More than 20 schools in Arlington ISD, including Sam Houston High School were dealing with repairs.

“Some are minor and some are more significant,” Arlington ISD Superintendent Marcello Cavazos said.

Heritage Middle School in Grapevine-Colleyville ISD had 15 classrooms flooded and sheetrock needed to be replaced. Several schools in that district are also dealing with a Spectrum internet and phone outage which has taken away control of the HVAC system, internet, phones and security system.

Fort Worth ISD has closed school Monday and Tuesday of next week while it cleans up. Frisco ISD said it wouldn’t be ready for instruction next week.

Northwest ISD had various schools still trying to get water out.

“Some classrooms may have cosmetic damage due to the efforts our teams…

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