[BreachExchange] Arlington Investigating Cyber Attack on County Payroll System

[Destry Winant]

https://www.arlnow.com/2019/07/10/arlington-investigating-cyber-attack-on-county-payroll-system/

Arlington County has revealed a cyber attack that penetrated the
county’s payroll system.

In a statement, the county says a number of employees were impacted by
the intrusion, but did not specify the exact number or impacts. The
intrusion appears to be the result of a “phishing” email targeting
county employees and not a hack, the press release suggests.

Police are investigating.

Arlington’s cybersecurity division previously told ARLnow that it was
staffing up and training county employees in light of the growing
number of cyber attacks. The county budgeted $60,000 for the
department to teach county employees how to avoid phishing emails,
among other security best practices.

The full press release is below.

Arlington County Government recently discovered the existence of an
intrusion into the Arlington County payroll system. This intrusion was
limited in both the time of the compromise and the number of the
employees who were impacted. No resident data was compromised during
the intrusion.

All of the impacted employees have been identified, advised of the
situation and steps are being taken to ensure the security of their
personal data. Based on a joint review by the Arlington County
Department of Technology Services and the Arlington County Police
Department, the consensus belief is that the intrusion was likely the
result of individual employees being targeted through a phishing
email.

Since discovery of the intrusion, Arlington County has implemented
enhanced cyber security features to safeguard email and other critical
computing systems. As part of our education and crime prevention
efforts, Arlington County is sharing cyber safety tips and reminding
employees and the public not to open any emails from individuals they
are unfamiliar with and to not click on links contained with any
emails without first verifying their content.

The intrusion is currently being investigated by the Arlington County
Police Department. Any information related to this ongoing
investigation can be provided to Detective John Bamford of the
Department’s Homeland Security Section at POLHSS at arlingtonva.us.
Information may also be provided anonymously through the Arlington
County Crime Solvers hotline at 866.411.TIPS (8477).