1. INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
All Daily Division HACKER STEALS
RESIDENTS’ DATA Breathtaking heist exposes 387,000 credit,
3.6 million Social Security numbers
Earlier breaches may have MORE ON THE STORY »» Not the first time Earlier breaches may have affected 410,000, 7A Profit driven Hackers turn data into cash, 4A
affected 410,000 in state
SECOND PLACE:
Many involved health care of the notices sent to af-
fected consumers. A
public access to the
names.
financial organizations
turned in 12 breach no-
organizations, agency report says breach is defined as the The law requires ev- tices affecting almost
unauthorized access of ery business or agency 19,000 consumers; and
By Tim Smith The report doesn’t in- items containing per- reporting to them to noti- other industries submit-
Capital Bureau clude the most recent fis- sonal identifying infor- fy affected customers or ted 29 notices affecting
tcsmith@greenvilleonline.com cal year, or the database mation. It doesn’t neces- residents. about 17,000 residents,
theft earlier this year of sarily mean the informa- The law went into ef- according to the data
COLUMBIA — South almost 230,000 records tion was actually stolen fect in July 2009, al- from Consumer Affairs.
Carolina state agencies from the Department of or misused. though some companies A total of six breaches
and businesses over a Health and Human Ser- Some organizations reported breaches for were reported last year
three-year period report- vices, said Juliana Har- didn’t report numbers of 2008 as well. but the number of people
ed dozens of computer se- ris, spokeswoman for the people affected, officials The agency has so far affected far exceeded
curity breaches that po- agency. said, so the actual num- received a total of 56 no- previous years, accord-
tentially could affect at State law requires ber could be much high- tices of computer breach- ing to the report, which
least 410,000 people, a re- businesses or govern- er. es with a total impact of doesn’t detail any conse-
port obtained by Green- ment agencies to report The report doesn’t list 410,865 residents, ac- quences of the breaches.
villeOnline.com shows. computer security the names of businesses cording to the report. Health-care organiza-
Much of that, accord- breaches to the Consum- or government agencies Of the 56 disclosures, tions alone reported
The Greenville News
ing to a report by the state er Affairs Office if the reporting the security the health-care industry, 325,000 people impacted
Department of Consum- potential impact is at breaches. such as hospitals, submit- from three security
er Affairs, came from least 1,000 people. GreenvilleOnline.com ted nine notices affecting breaches in 2011, accord-
health care organizations They must also notify has filed a South Carolina 340,000 residents. Gov- ing to the data.
last year, which reported the major credit bureaus Freedom of Information ernment agencies sub-
breaches affecting a pos- and include the timing, Act request, which the mitted six breaches af-
sible 325,000 people. distribution and content agency required, to gain fecting 35,000 residents;
WARNING cies have already
strengthened their infor-
tion security system is
only a function of how
well above the others,
four or five in the middle
employees with duties
that require such access.
mation security, and bad somebody wants to and two agencies with Updated tools now al-
Continued from Page 1A we’re not going to stop look at it. I can assure more substantive find- low officials to identify
until we have the strong- you, if somebody wants ings. personal information
Motor Vehicles told law- est information-security to get into your system, He would not disclose contained in emails.
makers that foreign practices in the country.” they can get into your the identities of the agen- And a new policy on
hackers were attacking Lindsey Kremlick, system. The question is cies or the exact details outside employment “is
Tim Smith, David Dykes,
his agency’s computer spokeswoman for the how much time, energy but said he will eventual- designed to deter em-
systems on a daily basis, state Budget and Control and commitment they ly release his reports. ployees from improperly
trying to get into data- Board, which houses the have and how hard are He said the Depart- benefiting from their po-
bases that contained a state’s information tech- you going to make it for ment of Revenue is sition and/or the data
treasure trove of driver nology office, said there them to minimize that among the nine reviewed they may have access
personal information. is no centralized comput- risk. There is no risk-less but would not discuss his to,” according to the
In April, a state Medi- er system for state agen- system.” findings yet, saying he agency’s summary ob-
caid employee was cies in South Carolina, State Law Enforce- wants permission from tained by GreenvilleOn- Gov. Nikki Haley expressed her anger
charged with six counts making it impossible to ment Division Chief law enforcement first. line.com. Friday towards a hacker who breached
of violating confidential-
ity and Medicaid laws af-
ter authorities accused
know exactly how many
security breaches have
occurred.
Mark Keel said South
Carolina is not unique in
attempts by hackers to
Common problems
The most common
At the Department Tim Smith
Employment and Work-
By of
force, remote access to bureau
Capital
Government remedy Department of Revenue information. At
right is state Department of Revenue
him of transferring rec-
ords on nearly 230,000
Medicaid patients to his
“Agencies indepen-
dently manage their own
information technology
breach computer securi-
ty at state agencies.
“It’s nationwide,” he
problems he found, he
said, were that agencies
did not have a response
computer systems is now
COLUMBIA —
secured using a “best- The first intrusion
practices” authentica- unnoticed by any
began in August, SPEAK OUT
frustrates residents Director James Etter. HEIDI HEILBRUNN/STAFF
email account and then including data, applica- said. “Systems are con- plan in case of a security tion, controls have been
officials operating the Department By David Dykes
sending a copy to another tions, security and infra- stantly being hit trying to breach, lacked adequate implemented to revokecomputer system, » Go to Greenville MAKING YOUR
person. structure,” she said. find a way into them, security for the paper
of Revenue’s
access to computer sys- Online.com/
Staff Writer
VOICE HEARD WHAT YOU CAN DO
And in August, the “Agencies are not re- whether it’s just to plant a records that contain con- tems once an employee is not far from the
which is located
Eric Connor and
Facebook to tell us A crush of South Carolina the deluge of calls from resi- Taxpayers are being asked to call 1-866-578-
University of South Car- quired to utilize the Bud- virus or whatever. That’s fidential information and terminated, security has the State Law En-
headquarters of
Hackers can make money off data
olina’s College of Educa- get and Control Board’s just a constant thing that did not regularly search been forcement Division.
increased over how you think the residents, confused and wor- dents who were urged by Gov. 5422 to determine if their information is
tion disclosed that rec- Division of State Infor- we see.” for personal information By the time the computer state handled the
stored paper documents ried about their vulnerability, Nikki Haley and others to vis- affected. Due to high call volume on Friday,
ords of 34,000 students, mation Technology’s Marcos Vieyra, chief that might be stored in and officials are scan- the U.S. Secret Ser-
crimes office of security breach and if did what their governor it the firm’s website or call to many residents reported being unable to get
faculty and researchers (DSIT) IT services. For information security of- multiple computer files. ning all computers used they should do more.
had been exposed during these reasons, we cannot ficer for the University Maley characterized in the agency’s SCWorks a problem on Oct.By Byron Acohido
vice discovered urged them to do Thecalling a ondetermine if theiraround an onlinethrough, but state officials say the service is
ernment databases. in first hinges ground that revolves informa- ta thief is running and also on market
a security breach by an accurately provide an in- of South Carolina, said at- the findings as problems 10, foreign hacker had taken aUSA TODAY join the
centers foraany personal
And toll-freegullibility, the other on moderatetion is affected.rich and efficient asworking to add operators.
human number for identity marketplace as conditions.”
overseas hacker. with the “icing” of com- database from the Revenue De- discussion on Twitter
information. hacking skills:
protection, quickly over- eBay. Buyers added and are
“We have of stolen data include Recent chatter in the cyber under-
■ Spear phishing. From
But even after that, of- puter security rather partment’s computers exposing 3.6their tracks while cracking into compa-whelming the system. society’s per-still in the process ofinformationac- ground suggest that money launderers
At the Department of Cyber criminals’ expertise at hiding
with the hashtag crime rings that use the
vasive use of web commerce and social hijack funds from online adding financial
to
may be having some difficulty hiring
INSIDE
ficials believed the “It’s been my experience that your than with the “cake.” #schacked.
Labor, million Social Security numbersny and government networks has ad- networks officials social engineering:more operators in orderusing stolen mules, who sometimes carry out the
Licensing and State has arisen said they counts. Others specialize in to an-
state’s computers, at Davis said the re- Regulation, pending use
least those operated by information security system is only sponse plan is important
and 387,000 credit and debit cardvanced considerably over the past dec-wereability for a data thief to extensivelyswer taxpayers’ series of online ac- risky final step of extracting cash from
policies will provide for
the scrambling with an identities to set up calls,” said
ade. profile a targeted victim and subse- counts through which to launder illicit the last of series of counterfeited online
Gov. Nikki Haley’s 16 a function of how bad somebody because it’s more a mat- numbers, one of SEE MORE
more monitoring of In- the largest com- Data thieves today commonly alteridentity-protection into clicking on online cash transfers.
quently fool that person firm to Abby .......................4D Obituaries ..............6B
accounts.
cabinet agencies, were ter of when than if an ternet puter breaches in the state or na-the fonts, web addresses and strings ofadd infected attachment or web link.
usage, officials an operators to respond to Recently, PROTECT, Page 7A has
See stolen identity data “There may not be enough takers (for
Area news ..............1B Religion..................2D
safely protecting data wants to look at it.” agency will be hacked. tion.
are working on a mecha- alphanumeric video from their attack
» Watch characters in ■ The infection turns control of the come under rising demand from tax stolen data) in the black market,” Cobb
Automotive............1F Sports ......................1C
with personal informa- STATE INSPECTOR GENERAL PATRICK MALEY “There is so much ef- The breathtaking breach hascode to throwa lot of spoofing the scent. victim uses over or the attacker. If the len names, addresses and Social Securi- says.
nism for generating doc-
“There is
investigators off
the governor’s
and head
victim’s PC
his
to
her computer for
fraudsters. One popular caper uses sto-
Bridge.....................4D attempting to
Security experts say Television...............4D
tion. fort now to steal this data launched a high-stakes interna-fakes going on topress it seem like an at- work, the intruder now has a foothold to ty numbers to generate faked tax re- get the victimized company Things to to
uments that limits and afternoon make
Business..................6A or agency do..........8D
In fact, records show, and get this data,” Davis logs all user activity, and tackconference and view
State had warnings
is originating from a different re- probe an organization’s network, map turns. Refunds get directed to a debit pay a ransom for the return of stolen da-
building security is being investigation andgion,” timeline Baumgartner, senior se- the location of key databases and pilfer card account — set up with a stolen iden- taClassifieds ..............6D U.S./World .............2A
tional criminal
Ron Barnett
by the time Department said. “You just can’t pro- a says Kurt of the is rare.
of Revenue computers ventory of all statewide tacks by hackers on his tect it 100 percent of the audited and restrictedNikki Haley, whosecurity researcher at Kaspersky Lab.
prompted Gov.
were successfully computer systems, system are “extremely time. And you can’t pro- on an as-needed state’s response to more sophis- data, typically over the course of months tity — then used to make cash withdraw- isComics ....................5D because .....................8A
based administration had another mas- Generally speaking, the or even years. card is
that the thief controls. A debit “The selling of data backVoices
a higher risk strategy,
to someone
it’s a
the attack, the Lifestyle ..................1D Weather .................5B
hacked, state Inspector spending information re- common.” He said hack- tect it from every effort.” sive theft of confidential informa-ticated cyber attacks that are being con-
basis for work outside ■ SQL injection attacks. SQL hacks als at an ATM.
By Tim Smith And the former FBI agent one-off attempt to cash in that’s much
General Patrick Maley lated to computer securi- ers are drawn to college Maley said each agen- normal hours. another cabinet agency ear-ducted daily for criminal gain appear to involve querying Bureau
tion at governor’s executive the databases underly- Last July, the Treasury Inspector easier to trace,” Cobb says.
originate in Russia, while “noisier” at- ing a web Capitalpage until a database hiccupsdirected for Tax Administration issued a
General by Gov. Nikki Haley Another reason a data thief might try
had already delivered a
letter to Haley informing
ty, or statistics related to
security breaches for the
computer systems for
their open networks, fast
cy was asked whether it
had experienced comput- lier this year, to order an assess-tacks tend and learn more other na- and accepts an injection of maliciousto report showing that the IRSafter to pre- to sell stolen data back toHigh 72
And at the Depart-
ment of Transportation,
order to originate from review the system failed a the victim
about the security
tions in Asia and Eastern Europe, tech code. Up until— The warnings
COLUMBIA early 2008, SQL hacksseries of breaches at agencies Low 51
vent 1.5 million potentially fraudulent would be if the data is of a highly sensi-
her that his review of state.” Internet access and pro- er security breaches or Social ment of all the state’s computersecurity experts say.
Security numbers were done manually, one web site at a tax returns from being processed last tive nature, such that certain parties
threat from hackers.
nine cabinet agencies, in- She said computer at- prietary research data. loss of information. have systems.
been eliminated The cutting-edge Russian attackswere there. time. In the spring of 2008, a bright hack-said with some refunds to identity would be highly motivated to pay a ran-
year, resulting in resignation
cluding the Department tacks are a continuing Preventing breaches, Davis said officials re- Many questions remain unan-tend to be stealthy, while noisy attacks er came up with aa hacker was that if a of more than $5.2 billion. The In- som, Baumgartner observes. Alterna-
from all reports and en- But even as way to quickly locate thieves hacker wanted to get www.greenvilleonline.com
of Revenue, had found threat for any organiza- he said, “is a constant ported such instances cryption has been added
swered. Officials are still unsuretend to be persistent and resilient.cracking into weakly-protected data-into a system estimated that the IRS tively, the thiefCirculation hotline
thousands of the state De- spector General bad enough, could simply be bluffing,
them to be in “substantial tion operating computer struggle.” were “rare.”
compliance with sound systems. Maley said he dis- “Other than one or two
the state’s system is entirely but-“Noisy attacks areon all more prevalentpartment of Revenuetechnique isthen no system is safe. theft over he Two things are 800-736-7136
onto files with personal
information. and less stealthy
much bases and automatically inject them could issue $21 billion in fraudulent tax
sorts of opera- with malicious code. That data- refunds as a result of identity
says.
certain: Information
Classified Ads 298-4221
computer security prac- “These threats exist counted four agencies records getting compro- toned up. And investigators and thetional levels,” Baumgartner says. “Andbase, the top expert for the
Maley said one issue now widely used to crack into weakly the next five years.the director
In February, Technology is complex and data thieves
© Copyright 2012
tices.” for individuals, all levels from his review because mised here and there, that hegovernor declined to answer anytheykeep returning to their the attackersstateand government web comput-
found is that while will
tend to be prolonged;
target, some- ny
protected databases underlying compa-of the state Department variety are endlessly inventive at cashing in. Co.
hired to assess “We’re seeing a considerable of Greenville News-Piedmont
Haley in April had of government and pri- they did not have any per- none of them reported all the agencies have times for years.” er the Internet. 16 agencies all across in the ways in whichinto money,” says stand the formatGannettstored data and
security at sites
was turning stolen data
cyber thieves are “Some dataA owners don’t fully under-
of their
Newspaper
threatened to fire any su- vate industry that oper- sonal information stored anything over the past computer security poli- See HACK, Page 4A There are two main ways criminals le-sounding notes of confidence. See WARNING, Page 7A 136th year No. 251 • 36 pages
Most often data thieves are in the hunt Stephen Cobb, security analyst at antivi- can be fooled into thinking an attacker
pervisor of any of her ate computer systems,” on anyone other than em- five or 10 years,” he said. cies and training pro- verage the intrinsic anonymity of the In- for information they can quickly sell to rus firm ESET. “It’s based on the type of has data when Printed not,” Baumgartn-
they do on recycled paper.
Hackers steal residents’ data
cabinet agencies if anoth- she said. “However, most ployees. Maley said agencies grams on security, they ternet to crack into company and gov- the highest bidder in a cyber under- data stolen, the type of operations the da- er says.
er database security attempts are blocked He also did not review “were fixing things that are not uniform.
breach occurred and through hardware and security around the De- needed to be fixed.” That’s because the
asked Maley to check the software measures, user partment of Health and state has 100 agencies,
security at each of her
agencies’ computer sys-
behavior and system
monitoring.”
Human Services because
consultants were already
Agency actions
Some of the nine agen-
boards, universities and
colleges with computer
HACK monitoring tools. On Oct. 16, Mandiant
discovered that four intrusions had oc-
curred and that data was taken on Sept.
tems. examining what hap- cies reported reporting systems, he said, with no
“State government is ‘No risk-less pened in the database back to the governor on one security policy or au-
Continued from Page 1A 13.
The firm continues to work to deter-
entrusted with vital per- system’ theft and would make actions they had taken thority controlling each. substantive questions about the investi- mine what exactly was taken and wheth-
sonal information from Maley, a former FBI recommendations. said they had done many However, he said the gation — including whether the database er numbers were stolen or just exposed.
South Carolinians, it’s agent, told GreenvilleOn- For the others, he said things to tighten securi- information technology may have been copied and whether tax- “We’re making great progress,” said
our job to secure that per- line.com that a system’s his office examined each ty, while others men- committee has devel- payers paid a ransom to the hacker to re- Marshall Heilman, director of the firm.
sonal information, and security has to be viewed agency based on nine tioned more of what they oped uniform standards trieve it. “Those investigations are measured in
that’s why the governor in terms of the risk the system security stan- already had in place. that may soon be recom- Haley administration officials, the weeks and months, not hours and days.”
State Law Enforcement Division and the Keel and the Secret Service’s Wil-
asked Inspector General operators are willing to dards used by a state in- The Department of mended to all agencies Secret Service disclosed the breach pub- liams refused to answer questions about
Patrick Maley to review assume. formation technology Health and Human Ser- and schools. licly on Friday, raising questions about the investigation in an exclusive inter-
information security at “I feel like they have a committee made up of vices, for instance, has “There were no gap- why officials kept it shrouded in secrecy view with GreenvilleOnline.com and
cabinet agencies and fundamentally sound in- chief information offi- instituted new data ac- ing holes of the security while the records of millions of the state’s WLTX in Columbia, which first received
make recommendations formation security sys- cers from various agen- cess and security poli- systems of these 16 agen- residents were nakedly exposed, and a tip about the breach, including the
for how to strengthen it,” tem based on the risk,” he cies and universities. cies, including policies to cies,” he said. “But there whether the system was now secure and country where they believe the hacker
Haley spokesman Rob said of the cabinet agen- What he and investiga- restrict access to data to were areas to improve.” whether taxpayers remain at risk. resides.
Godfrey told Greenville- cies. tor George Davis found, The juxtaposition of the public mes- “It would be inappropriate for me to
sages by Haley and her administration comment,” Keel said. “We have a very
Online.com. “It’s been my experi- he said, was a bell curve on Friday were at times jarring. State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel said authorities were “making every sensitive investigation. Obviously, we
“Many cabinet agen- ence that your informa- of results — two or three While one moment seeking to reas- effort that we can to bring someone to justice for this breach.” HEIDI HEILBRUNN/STAFF are making every effort that we can to
sure residents, the governor at other bring someone to justice for this breach.
points implored them with a visible de- will be borne by the taxpayer. State gov- policy, the agencies were basically sound And it would be inappropriate for me to
gree of urgency to call a toll-free number ernment is paying for the cost of the and the Revenue Department’s system comment any further.”
and enroll in a credit-protection service credit-protection service for millions of was the “best” among them. Keel said it’s not known “who is a vic-
being offered as a salve. residents and the burden to taxpayers By then, the hacker had taken the tim and who is not yet. That part is very
The service, however, was quickly couldn’t be determined by GreenvilleOn- database. frustrating. These things don’t surprise
overwhelmed with callers. The website line.com on Friday. Officials refused to go into details of me any more. We hear about these things
to which officials directed residents Reactions from taxpayers ranged what they have so far discovered about happening all the time. We obviously hat-
wasn’t able to process those with ques- from shock and concern to resigned eye- how the breach occurred and who was ed it happened in South Carolina. But it’s
tions and by Friday afternoon the toll- rolling about their government in Colum- behind it, but said the August intrusion bad no matter where it affects people.”
free number wasn’t accepting any more bia. was basically a scouting mission by the Etter said Mandiant is working to de-
calls. “It seems like just more of the same,” hacker. termine exactly what information was
The breach, officials said, potentially said Randall Young of Greenville. “You “To the best of our knowledge, it was taken as opposed to just exposed.
affects anyone who has filed a state tax read about it every day. It’s nothing new.” kind of a look-see, what’s here,” said As the investigation into the breaches
return since1998. Even weeks into the in- He added, “I don’t think anything’s really James Etter, director of the Department continues, Haley ordered an assessment
vestigation and during Friday’s public secure. The hackers are as smart as the of Revenue. “They were not doing any- of the entire state system of computers to
unveiling of it, law enforcement investi- people who program it.” thing with the data in August. They got in, see if they, too, are vulnerable to similar
gators and Haley administration offi- Some residents expressed doubt ‘Now, let’s see what we’ve got.’” attacks and thefts.
cials couldn’t say who, or precisely how about whether state government is tak- Three more breaches followed — the
many, are at risk of having their identi- ing enough steps to safeguard sensitive first, another “browse” on Sept. 3, Etter Public kept in dark
ties stolen. personal information. said, and then two more, concluding with Asked why they didn’t notify the pub-
All but 16,000 of the credit and debit “It makes me question the state and the data theft on Sept. 13, Etter said. lic, Keel and Williams said they decided
cards, officials said, were encrypted — how it was securing that kind of informa- Authorities somehow discovered the to notify the public after the investiga-
meaning they were coded against being tion,” said Misha Morris, a recent Clem- intrusions on Oct. 10. A Secret Service tion reached a series of “benchmarks.”
used by outside groups. But they said son graduate and Seneca resident. “It’s agent, Mike Williams, said the agency’s They said it was in the public’s best inter-
they don’t know whether hackers could scary.” computer crimes office first uncovered est that the investigation proceed fur-
break the encryption. The remaining Lauren Hamilton, a 26-year-old the intrusion and notified state authori- ther before public notification.
credit cards are so old, investigators Greenville resident, gasped aloud at the ties. “We believed that during the course of
said, that they don’t believe they are at news of the breach. The Revenue Department was told by the investigation that there were these
risk of being used. “I have a house. I pay for student the state’s Division of Information Tech- benchmarks that if we could reach, we
None of the Social Security numbers loans. I have to pay for that stuff. I’m not nology, which then consulted with law en- would do a better job of trying to protect
were encrypted and officials said they trying to let my credit get ruined,” she forcement and contacted a computer se- the public,” Keel said, declining to ex-
are studying whether they can do that — said. curity firm recommended by the Secret plain what the benchmarks were.
raising other questions about whether Service — Mandiant — to “find and fix No public funds were exposed or ac-
safeguards exist that weren’t used. Haley reacts the leak.” cessed, officials said. The servers con-
The breach occurred, ironically, just The Revenue Department contacted taining funds were separate from those
Residents shocked as Haley’s inspector general, Patrick Ma- Haley, and SLED Chief Mark Keel talked containing the data that was taken, they
The governor at times used bellicose ley, was finishing his review of the secu- to the governor as well. said.
language about wanting to slam the hack- rity for confidential information at Ha- “I’m not real fond of computers,” Keel Etter said initially that the “hole” in
er against a wall, and in a self-edited com- ley’s 16 cabinet agencies. said. “I was angry.” the Revenue Department’s computer
ment about kicking the hacker. The review was sparked by the theft But officials said they weren’t sure system had been sealed on Oct. 20. But he
She acknowledged, however, that, of data on nearly 239,000 Medicare and what had happened, whether any data later said officials were still examining
“It’s not a good day for South Carolina.” Medicaid recipients in April from the had been stolen or whether any taxpay- the system to be sure there were no other
She added, “South Carolina has come un- state Department of Health and Human ers’ personal identification information holes.
der attack but South Carolina is going to Services. An agency worker was had been exposed. South Carolina, like many states,
fight back in every way possible to make charged and the case is pending, officials The next day, Revenue Department doesn’t operate a centrally controlled
sure every taxpayer is taken care of.” said. officials began an internal investigation system. Instead, most of the 100 boards,
The cost of fighting back, however, Haley reacted defensively to ques- of all outside contractors and certain em- agencies, universities and commissions
tions about whether enough was done to ployees to see if they had been involved operate their own systems that officials
secure the state’s system after the in any security breaches. They also be- say complicates security measures.
breach in April. gan working on a plan to notify the public. Maley said there are no mandatory
“This is totally different,” she said standards, which he said prevents him
about the Revenue Department hacking, Outside experts “from feeling comfortable across the en-
Publisher CUSTOMER SERVICE stressing that the April incident came While law enforcement officials tire spectrum.”
STEVEN R. BRANDT
srbrandt@greenvillenews.com
(800) 736-7136 from inside the Department of Health pushed ahead with their secret investiga- Taxpayers are being asked to call 1-
(864) 298-4416 Hours: Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m.- 7 p.m. and Human Services. “This is unprece- tion, state computer officials began mon- 866-578-5422 to determine if their infor-
Sat. 7-11 a.m., Sun. 7 a.m.-1 p.m.
Executive Editor
JOHN S. PITTMAN
Walk-in hours: Mon.-Fri. 8 dented. This is an international attack itoring Revenue Department computers mation is affected. The state will provide
(864) 298-4165 a.m.- 5 p.m. that did not come from the inside.” for any unusual withdrawals of data. those affected with one year of credit
Managing Editor
J. CHRIS WESTON
In his September letter to Haley, Ma- Revenue officials, meanwhile, decided if monitoring and identify-theft protec-
(864) 298-4471
FULL ACCESS ley concluded that while the systems of they saw data being withdrawn, they tion, officials said.
VP/Sales & Marketing
SUBSCRIPTION RATES cabinet agencies he had finished examin- would shut down the system.
MAGGIE KROST
mkrost@greenvillenews.com
Full Access including
Mon.-Sun. print delivery: $24.00
ing could be tweaked and there was a Four days later, officials said, Man- ■ Staff writer Amy Clarke Burns contributed to
(864) 298-4342
per month ($22.00 per month if need for a statewide uniform security diant began installing surveillance and this report.
General Manager, Gannett