Montana to notify 1.3 million of computer hacking
By LISA BAUMANN, Associated Press | |
Associated Press |
The letters are going to people whose information and records were on the server. There's no evidence so far that any information was stolen, officials said Tuesday.
"There is no information, no indication, that the hackers really accessed any of this information or used it inappropriately," said
The state is offering free credit monitoring and identity-fraud insurance for a year to all 1.3 million people. A toll-free help line has fielded about 170 calls since the incident was announced a few weeks ago. None of those callers have reported identity theft or compromised bank accounts as a result of the hacking, Opper said.
Only about 1 million people live in
Malware was discovered on the health agency's server
About 3,100 department employees and contractors are also being notified because the server contained their bank account information. About 50 years of birth and death certificate information was also on the server, officials said.
Security has since been updated, officials said.
"This type of unauthorized access is not unique to
There are 17,000 unauthorized attempts to enter the state computer system every hour on average, or about six billion attempts per year. With that volume, it's difficult to ensure the state's computer security is a step ahead of the hackers' technology, Opper said.
The state is constantly vigilant and continually adapting monitoring and protection techniques, Baldwin said.
Officials expect cyber-security insurance coverage purchased last year by the state to cover most of costs associated with the incident.
"We're just really grateful that apparently the citizens haven't been harmed," Opper said.
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