Michael Mimoso

Attackers Had Access for Months in South Carolina Data Breach

Attackers had two months of unfettered access to South Carolina’s Department of Revenue systems in a classic targeted attack that began with a phishing email and ended with the loss of electronic tax return data, and payment card and personal information on 3.8 million filers, possibly dating back to 1998.


Don’t expect any relief from the current assault on Java. A new sandbox-escape exploit targeting a vulnerability in the Java Runtime Environment has been integrated into both the Black Hole and Gong Da exploit kits, setting the stage for additional attacks, researchers said.

Scott Tousley, deputy director cybersecurity division at Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology, is an advocate of integrating cybersecurity education into all disciplines of IT and business and risk management. “We don’t want to teach cybersecurity as a stovepipe, but to do it so that it makes sense in overall teaching,” Tousley said.

BOSTON – While some industry groups such as the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) and cross-industry groups such as the Advanced Cyber Security Center (ACSC) facilitate the exchange of threat information, for the most part organizations are still hamstrung by legal constraints and other business factors that prevent an adequate flow of actionable information.