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Data Breaches & Leaks The Record 1 month ago

Florida says motor vehicle data breach tied to credentials stolen from officer’s personal device

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CyberNew Threat Research Desk
• Original Reporting: The Record
CyberNew Threat Intel Assessment
Assessed Severity: HIGH
Impacted Surface
Enterprise Data & Identity Stores
Intelligence Sector
Data Breaches & Leaks

Analyst Takeaway

"Image: Oskar Kadaksoo / Unsplash Florida says motor vehicle data breach tied to credentials stolen from officer’s personal device Officials in Florida said Thursday the state Department of Motor Vehicles suffered a data breach after credentials were stolen from a police officer who had his login information on a personal device. On Monday, the ShinyHunters cybercriminal organization claimed they..."

Recommended Defense & Mitigation

  • Access Review: Audit administrative roles, enforce phishing-resistant MFA, and review privilege escalations.
  • Credential Rotation: Rotate high-privilege service credentials and tokens associated with impacted services.
Curated & Verified by CyberNew Threat Intelligence Desk Standard Defense Framework (NIST / MITRE ATT&CK)
Florida cars
Image: Oskar Kadaksoo / Unsplash

Florida says motor vehicle data breach tied to credentials stolen from officer’s personal device

Officials in Florida said Thursday the state Department of Motor Vehicles suffered a data breach after credentials were stolen from a police officer who had his login information on a personal device. 

On Monday, the ShinyHunters cybercriminal organization claimed they obtained access to data from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV). 

The department did not respond to repeated requests for comment throughout the week but on Thursday night, it publicly confirmed the legitimacy of the breach. 

Officials initially learned of the breach on September 4 and blamed it on an unnamed “international cybercriminal organization.”

“The Department immediately launched an investigation, which determined that a criminal actor was able to take advantage of a single Plant City Police Department user's credentials that were improperly housed on the employee's personal electronic device,” the department said. 

Plant City is a small suburb outside of Tampa. FLHSMV has notified other Florida government offices and is partnering with the Florida Digital Service to investigate the breach. 

Source Verification & Original Intelligence

This threat report was reviewed by CyberNew analysts and cross-referenced with primary security disclosures from The Record.

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