Scam of the day – November 12, 2023 – State of Maine Identified as Latest MOVEit Supply Chain Data Breach Victim

by | Nov 11, 2023 | Scam of the day

Three days ago the Maine state government confirmed that many of its departments had suffered a data breach affecting 1.3 milli0on people with large amounts of sensitive information including Social Security numbers compromised. The data breach at Maine, however was not a result of their computers being hacked directly by cybercriminals, but rather was done by exploiting a vulnerability found in MOVEit software used by Maine as well as 620 other organizations including American Airlines, TD Ameritrade, Johns Hopkins University and other users of the same software who can be assumed to also have suffered data breaches affecting an estimated 40 million people.   I have been telling you about these data breaches for months.

This supply chain attack brings back memories of the 2020 SolarWinds supply chain security breach.  SolarWinds is a company that provides system management software to 30,000 companies and government agencies.  Hackers exploited a vulnerability in its software that, in turn, led to data breaches at thousands of governmental and private entities.

Last year, there were more than 1,800 reported data breaches and probably many more that were not reported affecting 422 million people.  The question is not if you will become a victim of a data breach.  The question is when.

As I have reminded you many times, we are only as safe and secure as the security of the companies, government agencies and websites that have our personal information.  Even if you are extremely diligent in protecting your personal information, you can be in danger of identity theft and scams if your personal information falls into the hands of hackers.

So what can you do to protect yourself from these data breaches that will be occurring?

TIPS

One important lesson is to limit the amount of personal information that you provide to companies and websites whenever possible.  For example, your doctor doesn’t need your Social Security number for his or her records.

You should make sure that you have a unique password for each of your online accounts so that if one of your passwords is compromised in a data breach, all of your accounts will not be in danger.  If your information is compromised in a data breach, you should immediately change the password for that account.

If you have not already done so, set up dual factor authentication for each of you accounts where it is available. This will protect you from having those accounts stolen by someone who may have access to your password.

Freezing your credit is also something everyone should do.  It is free and easy to do.  In addition, it protects you from someone using your identity to obtain loans or make large purchases even if they have your Social Security number.  If you have not already done so, put a credit freeze on your credit reports at all of the major credit reporting agencies.  Here are links to each of them with instructions about how to get a credit freeze:
As for the significant threat of supply chain attacks, while there is little that we as individuals can do to protect ourselves, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency working together with private industry released new best practices guidelines for companies to implement to reduce the threat of supply chain attacks.  While these best practice guidelines are not mandatory, it is hoped that companies will follow them.

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