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A cybersecurity blog reported that a reader had his credit freeze "thawed” without authorization on Experian’s website, demonstrating “how truly broken authentication and security remains in the credit bureau space.”
Washington auditor’s office warned agencies of data-breach risks. Then it got hacked By Jim Brunner, The Seattle Times
Published: February 21, 2021, 4:45pm
Share: State Auditor Pat McCarthy, a Democrat, talks Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, with The Columbian editorial board. (The Columbian files)
On Christmas Eve last year, Washington State Auditor Pat McCarthy’s office issued a dire warning that state agency computer systems and data make “attractive targets for cyberattacks.”
The admonition, in a 26-page cybersecurity audit report titled Continuing Opportunities to Improve State IT Security, noted agencies collect “vast amounts of confidential data” from the public.
It recommended fixes for “vulnerabilities” at five unnamed state agencies, cautioning presciently, as it turned out that a sensitive-data breach would bring a “loss of public confidence” as well as “considerable tangible costs.”
Washington Auditor Warned of Cyberthreats Before Hack
The Washington Auditor s Office issued a warning to state agencies about cyberthreats and vulnerabilities before itself falling victim to one of the biggest data breaches for an agency in the state. by Jim Brunner, The Seattle Times / February 16, 2021 Shutterstock
(TNS) On Christmas Eve last year, Washington State Auditor Pat McCarthy s office issued a dire warning that state agency computer systems and data make attractive targets for cyberattacks.
The admonition, in a 26-page cybersecurity audit report titled Continuing Opportunities to Improve State IT Security, noted agencies collect vast amounts of confidential data from the public.
Reported U.S. data breaches and inadvertent data exposure in 2020 (Source: ITRC)
The number of data breaches being reported in the U.S. and elsewhere each year continues to decline. But security experts say this unfortunately can be explained by criminals increasingly focusing on lucrative ransomware and business email compromise scams, which require scant data to be successful.
In the U.S., reported data breaches and inadvertent data exposure incidents decreased by 19% from 1,473 in 2019 to 1,108 in 2020, as did the overall number of exposed records, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit organization based in San Diego, California, that provides no-cost assistance to U.S. identity theft victims to help resolve their cases. The ITRC recently released its 15th annual Data Breach Report.