City of Pittsburg falls victim to phishing attack
FILE - A message demanding money on a computer hacked by a virus is shown on a computer in a file image taken on June 27, 2017. (Photo by Donat SorokinTASS via Getty Images)
PITTSBURG, Calif. - The City of Pittsburg on Wednesday reported that city personnel had fallen victim to a phishing attack, resulting in a payment of over $900,000 to a fraudulent account posing as a city vendor.
The incident occurred on February 12 of this year, and was identified by city staff on Feb. 17, at which point staff notified the Pittsburg Police Department, who expanded the response team to include Contra Costa County and the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
"The instant this incident was identified as fraudulent by city staff, the city’s police department acted quickly and immediately froze the account to which the funds were electronically wired," Pittsburg Police Chief Phil Galer said in a press release. "Given the nature of this cybercrime, we contacted related agencies and the FBI to tap all available resources."
What we know:
The department was able to recover $696,241, and is pursuing insurance coverage payment for the remaining $217,598 through its cyber and crime insurance policies.
The investigation to identify the perpetrators included 18 search warrants involving 116 accounts across major technology companies, financial institutions, and telecommunications providers.
The investigation identified the primary overseas suspect responsible for compromising the city’s email system, which is based in Nigeria, with at least two criminally affiliated U.S.-based suspects. The FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office continue to investigate the case both domestically and overseas.
What's next:
In response to the phishing attack, the city immediately implemented new processes to strengthen internal controls of financial processes, including payment verification processes and controls within financial workflows, and modifications to IT staffing.
"Sadly, Pittsburg has joined a long list of public agencies successfully targeted by international crime rings with cyber-based financial crimes. This crime is both upsetting and a hard lesson for how we can improve our security. I share the community’s disappointment that criminals were able to exploit our systems," Mayor Dionne Adams said in a press release. "While this was a difficult moment, the City acted immediately to recover as much of the stolen funds as possible and tightened cybersecurity measures and procedures."
The Source: City of Pittsburg