South Carolina’s Department of Revenue is under a great threat as 3.6 million social security numbers are hacked by the anonymous recently whereas the SC population is 4.7 million. It is one of the biggest cyber attacks for South Carolina government. The people have been alerted for this security breach. The hacker also hacked about 387,000 credit/debit card numbers, according to the state.
Though the state officials assured that most of the cards are protected by strong encryption algorithm but still 16,000 cards are under serious threat as those are unencrypted. South Carolina Government took some steps. People, who filed South Carolina tax return since 1998, are requested to call (866) 578-5422 to enroll in a consumer protection service and visit protectmyid.com/scdor.
Governor Nikki Haley reacted furiously in the press conference held on October 26 as South Carolina’s Department of Revenue acknowledged the massive security breach. “I want this person slammed against the wall,” Gov. Nikki Haley said in a statement. “We are taking immediate steps to protect the taxpayers of South Carolina, including providing one year of credit monitoring and identity protection to those affected. The number of records breached requires an unprecedented, large-scale response by the Department of Revenue, the State of South Carolina and all our citizens,” also stated by Haley.
FBI and US Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies have joined to find out the hacker or the group of hackers. Initially on 27th August an attack came where no data were stolen, according to the Department of Revenue. In September, two more attacks were attempted & the hackers finally succeeded. Department of Revenue learned the attack on October 10.
“We worked with them throughout that day to determine what may have happened and what steps to take to address the situation,” said Director James Etter. “We also immediately began consultations with state and federal law enforcement agencies and briefed the governor’s office.”
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