- A hacker claims to have stolen sensitive information from the Florida State Department of State
- The data includes E -Mail addresses of nearly 500,000 people
- The E -Mail addresses could be used in tailor -made phishing -attack
The Florida Department of State, the government organization, which was tasked with overseeing elections, business registrations, historical and cultural resources and library services, were allegedly hacked, with attackers who claimed to have stolen hundreds of thousands of items, including people’s e -mail addresses.
Researchers from Incogni explained a user with alias Rey sent a new thread on an underground forum, claiming to have hacked the Florida Department of State and steal 568,835 items.
The data contains sensitive personal information belonging to “persons associated with the department”. While it may mean employees or clients, given that the database is quite large, it can also mean the public.
No confirmation yet
In any case, the stolen data includes first and last names, postal addresses and E email addresses.
The latter is particularly disturbing as it can be used for tailor -made phishing attacks. Threateners could emulate the Florida State Department of State, and since the victims already interacted with the organization, they could be more susceptible to the attack.
For incognition, leaked information about postal addresses is even more about, as it may lead to addressing fraud or even physical harm to state employees as well as possible identity theft.
In total, 487,961 unique E -mail addresses were reportedly gripped. At the time of the press, there is no confirmation of the authenticity of the hack. The Florida State Department of State should not yet process the claims as there are no updates on its news room site. Therefore, we do not know if the people concerned were notified of the violation at all.
Have I also been pwned?, A site that collects E -email addresses from known violations has not yet added this information to its database.
Incogni advises anyone who thinks they may have been hit to update their passwords first. “Although no passwords were reported stolen, it’s a good idea to change them just in case. If you are using the same password on other sites, remember to update them and make sure each one is strong and unique,” the researchers said.
Furthermore, it can never be hurt to be more careful with incoming E email messages. Finally, it is also recommended to keep an eye on all accounts, especially bank and credit accounts.
