3.6 Million Social Security Numbers Breached In South Carolina
A massive security breach in South Carolina's State’s Department of Revenue resulted in the theft of 3.6 million social security numbers and 387,000 credit/debit card numbers.
The state's Department of Revenue became aware of the breach Oct. 10 and an investigation revealed the hacker had stolen the data in mid-September, after probing the system for vulnerabilities in late August and early September.
The vulnerability exploited by the attacker was closed Oct. 20.
During a press conference Friday, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley described the attack as international and "creative in nature."
Asked if she knew where the attack originated from, she said she does but declined to name the location because it might hurt the law enforcement investigation. She did, however, say she wants the hacker "slammed to the wall."
The state will provide affected taxpayers with a year of credit monitoring and identity theft protection service from Experian.
Cobb pointed out that this breach came only a couple of months before people can start filing their income tax returns.
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