Hackers responsible for the cyberattack on the city of Dallas had access to the addresses, Social Security numbers and other personal information of about 300 more people than those previously disclosed to the public, city officials said.
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Catherine Cuellar, a city spokeswoman, told The Dallas Morning News on Wednesday that further internal investigations into the cyberattack have identified 293 more people, including residents and employees, whose information may have been compromised by hackers. She said the city has sent them letters to notify them.
The disclosure adds to the 30,000 people affected by the data breach and comes after the Dallas City Council met Wednesday morning to discuss the cyberattack with the city attorney’s office. The council’s last recorded executive session on the issue was in September.
It’s unclear what was discussed during Wednesday’s closed session, and council members did not address it when they resumed their open session in the afternoon.
The City Council voted on Aug. 9 to set aside nearly $8.6 million to reimburse vendors for hardware, software, incident response and consulting services in the wake of the ransomware. The city declined to disclose specifically how that money is being spent.
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The city is appealing a public records request from The News, which is seeking a list of where the money went. The Attorney General’s Office approved the release of some of the records, but when the city turned over the information in December, it provided only the contract amounts and had redacted the name of each vendor and descriptions.
In August, the city reported the data breach to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services , three months after the attack was discovered. It said personal information for 30,253 people on Dallas’ self-insurance group plans was exposed during the breach. That same month, the city sent about 27,000 letters, mostly to employees, former employees and their relatives, explaining that names, addresses, Social Security numbers, medical information and other details were leaked and possibly downloaded.
Cyberattacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated, with attackers using complex techniques to bypass security systems. One current trend is the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate attacks. Ransomware continue to increase, with attackers encrypting victims' data and demanding a ransom to decrypt it.
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Phishing attacks also remain popular, with attackers impersonating trusted organizations or individuals to trick victims into revealing sensitive information. Finally, the exploitation of smart devices and Internet of Things (IoT) devices is becoming increasingly common as attackers seek new ways to infiltrate victims’ networks and systems.
Source: government technology
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