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California Hax0red

Posted by michael on from the san-andreas-fault dept.

rochlin writes "200,000 California state workers burned! According to the Sacramento Bee, personal and financial info for 200,000 workers was accessed by a team of hackers "working secretly over the past several months." Stolen info included "the perfect mix of information to allow identity theft" according to the Sacramento Valley Hi Tech Task Force."

5 of 229 comments (clear)

  1. Oh dear.. by matth · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Hackers had access to SS#

    Great.. unfortunately the SS Administration won't give you a new number unless you can PROVE that your number is being used illegally or against you. Great! So now we have to wait until someone steals our identity to get a new number. Something's kinda fishy with that. If your credit card is stolen you report it right away and get a new one. But no.. if your SS# is stolen you keep it unless someone is hurting you. EEEK! BAH!

  2. Suing the State of California by pyrrho · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wonder if the employees union will sue the state for damages? While I may get trashed for suggesting such a legal "solution" (or maybe praised, who cares), I think that's the only way large organizations will know why it's worth it to maintain security.

    I say don't underestimate how much this sucks for those employees.

    --

    -pyrrho

  3. I work for the California... by JeremyYoung · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I actually do tech support for a field office. I've never been impressed by the security mindset of state network admins. They are paranoid about giving access to those who really need it, while ignoring much of the easier ways people can break in (such as proper use of passwords, account maintenance and monitoring, etc..). But I'm sure this would be true of any network admin who's paid and supervised as little as they are.

    Interesting side note: Our last chief of IT was hired even though his resume revealed not one shred of experience with information technology. His degree was in finance, and from what it appeared he had no experience running a network. That's just how it goes when you have a governor who needs to bestow favors on those who supported him during his campaign.

    --

    Go Lakers!

  4. What do Teale data center personnel say? by ddeyoung · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I know several guys that used to work at the Teale data center (where the compromise occured). They say it's the most anti-unix place they have ever worked. Chances are those records were sitting on unpatched NT/SQL Server boxes. If by some small chance they were on non MS boxes, knowledgable *nix folk are non-existent there (according to them).

    They went further to say the level of qualified security savvy personnel is pathetic and that any deployed IDSs are poorly managed...

    I know it's all second hand, but I thought their insight was interesting.

  5. hacked from the outside??? by numbuscus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Maybe its a conspiracy to cover the huge CA debt during the next budget cycle.

    Step 1) Hack own site and steal info on employees.
    Step 2) Blame hackers / terrorists (everyone hates them).
    Step 3) Take out credit cards in employee's names (excluding judges and politicians.
    Step 4) Purchase goods from 'contributing' business leaders. Collect taxes from purchases. Get kick-backs from businesses.
    Step 5) Lay off employees because of budget crisis.

    From my calculations, this could save California millions! And we thought government heads were so dull. Their brilliant!!!