Hackers Spy on Federal Investigator, Get Into Harvard Illegally and Email Themselves School Secrets

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Just another week in ThreatWatch, our regularly updated index of noteworthy data breaches.

In case you missed our coverage this week in ThreatWatchNextgov’s regularly updated index of cyber breaches:

Contractors Hacked Other Contractors and Agencies for Financial Gain

Twins Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter, 23, admitted breaking into a slate of systems, including State Department networks, while working as government contractors. They infiltrated State’s networks to steal passport and visa information. Then, in February 2015, one of the brothers re-entered the network to access sensitive data on a federal investigator looking into his criminal activity.

Attackers Breached Systems Serving 8 Harvard Colleges, Offices

About half a month after discovering the intrusion, school officials are warning users that their university passwords might have been compromised. The attack struck systems at Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Central Administration, subsequently affecting eight different schools and administrative organizations at the university.

California Employee Faces Charges over College Hack and Drug Possession

Lacey Fowler, a human resources analyst at Cuesta College, allegedly sent sensitive data about school employees to a personal email account without authorization. College employees have remote access to the data, but Fowler, who was on medical leave, allegedly exceeded her access rights.

Canadian Health Authority -- ‘Tearing’ Apart Offices For Missing Thumb Drive -- Assigns 30 Workers for Notification

A USB flash drive containing a spreadsheet of employees' personal information has gone missing at Eastern Health. The USB drive was last used June 17 in an office within the human resources department of Newfoundland and Labrador's largest health authority. 

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