Il Maine it is located in the center of a serious hacker attack, with a data breach involving approx the entire population of the state, with 1.3 million residents who have had their personal information stolen.
Maine, a hacker attack affects all 1.3 million residents
The US state published on the official website of the state government, which highlighted the vulnerability of a tool used by the government. They discovered the breach on May 31 of this year, with authorities in Maine attributing the attack to a known ransomware group. The breach reportedly occurred between May 28 and 29, when cybercriminals exploited a software vulnerability in one Third-party file transfer tool called MOVEit.
During this time, the cybercriminal group used an exploit of the tool to download data from various state government agencies. By doing this, it has compromised the security and privacy of over 1.3 million Maine residents. The amount and sensitivity of stolen data raises serious concerns, with personal information such as name, social security number, date of birth, driver’s license, state identification number, and taxpayer identification number potentially exposed.
Authorities in Maine addressed the situation immediately closing access to MOVEit at the time of discovery of the violation. However, cyber criminals had already obtained a significant volume of data. The nature of the attack suggests that the group behind this breach could be the known one ransomware group called Clopaccording to what Mashable reports.
The incidence of such a massive breach highlights the growing threat of online criminal activity and highlights the importance of further efforts in protecting sensitive data. The situation in Maine draws attention to cybersecurity issues and raises the need for more robust strategies to prevent future attacks of this kind.