The Hendersonville Times-News in North Carolina reports:
A cyber-threat analyst who has been quoted in national news articles believes even more people could be at risk from the cybersecurity incident reported last week that targeted Hendersonville city employees.
On Nov. 29, Hendersonville City Manager John Connet sent out a statement to city employees telling them they were victims of the cybersecurity attack that happened just before the Thanksgiving break and that the attack was being investigated.
Brett Callow, a ransomware expert and threat analyst at the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft, told the Times-News on Dec. 4 that more than just city employees could have been targets.
Very often, entities quickly issue statements or notices that tell people things like “We have no evidence of any misuse or fraud at this time,” or “It looks like only some employee data was accessed.” But months later, there may be evidence of misuse or fraud, or the entity may find out that consumers’ or patients’ information was also accessed. Callow gives the kind of sane and protective advice we wish all entities would give in the early stages of a breach investigation:
“At this point, employees and former employees should assume that whatever information the city held about them is now in the hands of cybercriminals … so too should anybody else who has had dealings with the city,” he said. “Hopefully, the city is right in its assessment that the incident affected only employee data, but until that’s confirmed, people should hope for the best and plan for the worst.”
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