LOUISIANA, USA — All Louisiana residents with a state driver's license, ID, or vehicle registration are at risk of having their identity stolen through a global cyber attack that affected the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles.
That exposed data includes your name, address, social security number, birth date, height, eye color, driver's license number, vehicle registration information, and handicap placard information.
More than 6 million records in Louisiana were compromised, according to the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Director, Casey Tingle.
"That is duplicative because some people have both vehicle registration and driver's license," Tingle said.
According to Tingle, there is no indication this data has been sold, used, shared or released.
"The state of Louisiana, our data, doesn't appear to be the focus of the attack, however everyone should take this seriously," Tingle said. "This was an issue with a vendor widely utilized across both government and not government and private sector."
The third-party data transfer service at the center of the attack is called MOVEit. It's a service used to send large files.
Agencies worldwide were hit by the breach including the U.S. Energy Department, Johns Hopkins Hospitals, Georgia's statewide university system, the Minnesota Department of Education, Shell, and British Airways.
"This MOVEit File Transfer app is widely used because it makes securing data so convenient. It makes it easy to move data in a way that's encrypted," said Bob Gourley, Former Chief Technology Officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency.
According to a Deputy National Security Advisor, the cybercriminals are demanding ransom for stolen data.
"This criminal group has started to put the data that they extorted out on the dark web because they're trying to get companies to pay for it," said Anne Neuberger, Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber & Emerging Technology.
Officials believe a Russian hacking group called 'Clop' is behind the attack. U.S. officials said there is no evidence the hackers coordinated their attack with the Russian government.
"They never attack Russian targets, and the software they use, it seems to be configured to where it will not attack a system that uses a Cyrillic keyboard," Gourley said.
To prevent hackers from opening new accounts or loans in your name, Louisiana officials encourage you to freeze your credit through all three major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and Transunion. You can do this in minutes for free online or over the phone
1-888-397-3742
1-800-685-1111
(888) 909-8872
"All three services should be utilized and the important thing there is it doesn’t keep someone from utilizing their own credit, but it ensures should someone try to access their credit they will be notified that’s why its important," Tingle said.
Check for any suspicious activity.
"If they’ve seen activity on a particular card or a particular account, talk to that company about freezing that account and handle their charges with that company," Tingle said.
Louisiana officials also recommend changing your online passwords for accounts including banking, social media, and healthcare portals, although it doesn't appear that information is at risk due to the breach.
"We know passwords were not included in the data that was involved in this breach, we are recommending as a best practice, people change their passwords as soon as possible and on an ongoing basis it's best practice to change passwords every 90 days," Tingle said.
You should also check your social security benefits.
"All individuals who are eligible, applied for, and/or are receiving social security benefits (including disability), please consider registering for a ssa.gov account at this link to stop others from stealing your benefits. If you suspect Social Security fraud, call the Office of Inspector General hotline at 1-800-269-0271, Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213 or file a complaint online at oig.ssa.gov," the state press release said.
"It's also a good practice to protect your tax refund and returns with the IRS and check your social security benefits and report any suspected identity theft," Tingle said.
The state plans to update the data breach here.
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