SC Department of Revenue Hacked; Millions of SC Residents Affected
SC Department of Revenue Hacked; Millions of SC Residents Affected : Sports : MidlandsConnect.com
Gov. Nikki Haley announced Friday that South Carolina has come under an international attack.
“This is not a good day for South Carolina,” said Haley.
Haley along with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel, an official from the United States Secret Service, Jim Etter, Director of the South Carolina Department of Revenue and Inspector General Patrick Maley gathered for a news conference at SLED headquarters Friday at 1:30 p.m. to announce that millions of South Carolinians have had their personal information stolen.
Haley continues to stress that this is an international attack. The person responsible was not from the United States.
Authorities say 3.6 million Social Security numbers have been compromised and information for 387,000 credit and debit cards have been exposed. Approximately 16,000 are unencrypted.
“On October 10, the S.C. Division of Information Technology informed the S.C. Department of Revenue of a potential cyber attack involving the personal information of taxpayers,” said DOR Director Jim Etter.
Authorities say further investigation after October 10 uncovered multiple attempts to hack the DOR system occurred from late August to mid-September. On October 20, the vulnerability in the system was closed and, to the best of the department’s knowledge, secured.
Haley says Friday was the earliest they could announce the breach to allow law enforcement personnel to do their jobs and keep the chance of catching the hacker.
“I want this person slammed against the wall,” said Haley.