Tag Archive for: san

San Bernardino County, Calif., Paid $1.1M to Hackers

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(TNS) — San Bernardino County acknowledged this week that it has paid a $1.1 million ransom to a hacker who uploaded malware to the Sheriff’s Department’s computer system.

In a ransomware attack, a criminal enters a system and encrypts the data, leaving the owner unable to access it. If a ransom is paid, usually in cryptocurrency, the criminal will provide a decryption key to unlock the data.

For weeks, the county said little publicly about the hack, other than to call it a “network disruption.”


David Wert, a county spokesman, said the county had anticipated such a computer invasion and had taken out insurance. He said that of the $1.1 million payout, the county’s share was $511,852 and that the insurance company paid the rest.

Sheriff Shannon Dicus said Wednesday that the cyber attack did not compromise public safety but workarounds were required for certain tasks. For instance, he said, deputies could not access the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, which can tell deputies when a person is wanted for crimes elsewhere in the country. So deputies would request other agencies check the CLETS records.

It was unclear Thursday whether any information was stolen. The department is still going through its systems to learn what has been affected. Those that have been determined to be safe and functioning are being turned back on, said Mara Rodriguez, a sheriff’s spokeswoman.

No other county department computer systems were affected, Wert said.

Chuck Brooks and some other cybersecurity experts say paying a ransom is a bad precedent.

“Generally, businesses should not pay for ransomware as they will likely be hit over and over again as it will be shared and sold by criminal hackers on the dark web,” Brooks said in an email on Thursday, May 4.

Brooks, in a story he wrote that appeared in Forbes magazine, said ransomware has been around since the late 1980s and “it has become a trending and more dangerous cybersecurity threat.”

Wert said there was a discussion about whether to pay but declined to elaborate beyond this statement:

“The decision whether to render payment was the subject of careful consideration,”…

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San Antonio’s OLLU hit by cyberattack

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A cyberattack on Our Lady of the Lake University’s computer network compromised personal data on its faculty, students and even individuals who applied to the university but never attended.

The private Catholic university on San Antonio’s West Side this week confirmed that it recently found evidence that “unauthorized access” to its network occurred about Aug. 30 and that “a limited amount of personal information was removed.” It declined to detail the types of information taken.

The university hasn’t notified those who were affected but plans to do so next Friday, spokeswoman Anne Gomez said.

But in interviews, people who learned through other means that their data had been compromised said it included Social Security and driver’s license numbers, dates of birth and home addresses.

READ MORE: Judson ISD says it paid hackers more than $500K to protect sensitive information

It’s unclear whether Our Lady of the Lake was hit by a ransomware attack, in which hackers deploy malicious software to lock people and groups out of their networks and demand payments to regain access. Hackers also often threaten to publicize private information contained in the attacked systems.

The university consulted with “outside cybersecurity professionals” to investigate the incident, Gomez said, declining to identify the investigator or the nature of the attack.

Some of the victims who were interviewed said they learned through alerts from credit card companies and credit rating agencies that their personal information had been compromised and were able to connect it to an attack on Our Lady of the Lake’s network.

The people, two of whom said they applied to the university in 2016 but never attended, spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns their information has been posted online or will be.

Fall semester enrollment at the university was about 2,300 students, and it employs about 450 people.

San Antonio has seen a surge of cyberattacks in recent years, with many described as ransomware attacks. They have hit other educational institutions as…

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San Diego City College approved to offer a bachelor’s degree

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 Students at San Diego City College now have the opportunity to earn a four-year degree for the first time in the school’s 108-year history.

The California Community Colleges Board of Governors approved San Diego City College’s full bachelor’s degree in cyber defense and analysis.

Students at the downtown campus can start applying for the program this fall, with classes expected to begin in August 2024.

The new degree will mean a more affordable education for those who need it most.

“Many of these programs in the upper division courses are at capacity, and students are turned away. This is just something we hope will level the playing field for students that are less advantaged than others,” said David Kennemer, Associate Professor of Computer Information Systems at City College.

The downtown college becomes the second campus in the San Diego Community College District to offer a baccalaureate program.

San Diego Mesa College was among the first community colleges in California to offer a baccalaureate program, after the Board of Governors approved Mesa’s bachelor’s degree in Health Information Management in 2015, as part of a pilot program.

Miramar College administrators have submitted a proposal for a bachelor’s degree program in Public Safety Management.

“This is extremely significant for California, for social justice and equity,” said Kennemer, who has taught in the computer science department for more than seven years. “(It) helps students who would never even have the opportunity to get into a traditional university. Now they do,” Kennemer continued.

The average pay for cyber security analysts in San Diego County reached $111,590 annually as recently as May of 2021, with related jobs offering similar pay.

Those statistics are according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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San Diego Unified School District target of cybersecurity breach

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SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Unified School District is struggling through another cyber attack.

The latest security breach was announced after the district alerted the FBI and other local law enforcement agencies.

“It’s not a question of if, but when this is going to happen,” said Sai Huda, a cybersecurity expert and founder of Cyber Catch.

Schools are fast becoming a favorite target for hackers, because computer security experts say they are often a soft target. The attackers are after the data. They also want money so it’s a double bounty.

“What they want to do is affect ransomware and bring the school to a halt and demand payment,” Huda said.

The San Diego Unified School District declined to comment but released this statement:

“After learning of this incident, we acted swiftly to take steps to secure our network, to launch an investigation and to prevent any disruptions to (information technology) operations.”

The extent of the breach will take time to understand, but security experts say anyone affiliated with SDUSD should change their passwords and started to monitor their credit file closely.

Parents of students should also monitor their students credit files as well, because hackers could try to open up credit lines even before the student turns 18.

“If you go to college all of a sudden, you’ll discover your credit is ruined and you will be rejected from the loan. So, the impact is just devastating,” Huda said.

SDUSD is expected to have more information in the days to come.

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