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   Florida Department of State data breach may have exposed information of   
   500,000 people   
      
   Date:   
   Tue, 01 Apr 2025 14:25:30 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   The breach has not yet been confirmed, but the hacker is making big claims.   
      
   FULL STORY   
   ======================================================================   
    - A hacker claims to have stolen sensitive information from the Florida   
   Department of State   
    - The data includes email addresses on almost 500,000 people   
    - The email addresses could be used in tailored phishing attacks   
      
   The Florida Department of State, the government organization tasked with   
   overseeing elections, corporate registrations, historical and cultural   
   resources, and library services, was allegedly hacked, with the attackers   
   claiming to have stolen hundreds of thousands of records, including peoples   
   email addresses.    
      
   Researchers from Incogni explained a user with the alias Rey posted a new   
   thread on an underground forum, claiming to have hacked the Florida    
   Department of State and stealing 568,835 records.    
      
   The data contains sensitive personal information belonging to individuals   
   associated with the Department. While that could mean employees, or clients,   
   given that the database is quite large, it could mean the general public, as   
   well.    
      
   No confirmation yet    
      
   In any case the stolen data includes first and last names, postal addresses,   
   and email addresses .    
      
   The latter is particularly worrisome, since it can be used for tailored   
   phishing attacks. Threat actors could impersonate the Florida Department of   
   State, and since the victims already interacted with the organization, they   
   could be more susceptible to the attack.    
      
   For Incogni, leaked information on postal addresses is even more concerning,   
   since it can lead to address fraud or even physical harm to state employees,   
   as well as possible identity theft .    
      
   In total, 487,961 unique email addresses were allegedly grabbed. At press   
   time, there is no confirmation on the authenticity of the hack. The Florida   
   Department of State is yet to address the claims, as there are no updates in   
   its newsroom site. Therefore, we dont know if the affected people were   
   notified of the breach at all.    
      
   Furthermore, Have I Been Pwned?, a website that aggregates email addresses   
   from known breaches, has not yet added this information to its database.    
      
   Incogni advises everyone who thinks they might have been affected to update   
   their passwords, first. While no passwords were reported stolen, its a good   
   idea to change them just in case. If you use the same password on other   
   websites, be sure to update those too, and make sure each one is strong and   
   unique, the researchers said.    
      
   Furthermore, being more cautious with incoming email messages can never hurt.   
   Finally, keeping a close eye on all accounts, especially bank and credit   
   accounts, is also advised.   
      
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/florida-department-of-state-data-breach   
   -may-have-exposed-information-of-500-000-people   
      
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