The US State Department is finding itself one of the latest victims of a systems security breach. Hackers were able to gain access to the State Department’s unclassified email systems, but what’s more interesting is that the US State Department knew of the breach back in October but just disconnected the system now. It is also being reported that around the same time in October the White House was also victim to cyber attack.
Add the State Department and the White House to a growing list of government hacked systems such as the USPS and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. If you think cyber crime is just a passing thing this should be a wake up call. While the State Department systems were unclassified, the fact that they can be breached should raise alarms all together, not to mention the White House breach. Cyber criminals are getting more daring and it’s clear that they’ll target just about anyone or anything.
Consumer retailers should be on extra alert with the holiday season coming up, a two month window where financial transactions will be flying all over the place. Consumers who might be a little apprehensive of using an electronic payment method should probably opt for cash and see how this season shakes out. Generally retailers will know if they’ve been hacked but not release that information for weeks at a time. For now the only real way to ensure you’re credit or debit cards aren’t hacked, is to not use them. As for the government, that’s a whole other issue. What do you think of U.S. Government branches suffering security breaches? Let us know in the comments below or on Google+, Facebook and Twitter.
[button link=”http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/17/us-cybersecurity-statedept-idUSKCN0J11BR20141117″ icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Reuters[/button]Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
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