Louisiana’s motor vehicle office was among numerous organizations to use software named MOVEit which was designed to transfer large digital files. Those measures include freezing their credit to prevent the opening of new accounts in their names, changing all their digital passwords, obtaining a special number from the federal Internal Revenue Service to prohibit someone else from filing tax returns in their names, and reporting any suspected identity theft to authorities. However, it has not elaborated.Įdwards also said there was no evidence that the hackers had sold, used, shared or released the personal details, though the governor suggested that Louisianans take steps to protect their identities. The Russia-linked extortion gang CI0p, which claimed credit for the recent hack, has previously said it would not exploit any data taken from government agencies and assured it had erased such information.
The number of records involved is thought to be about 6 million, Louisiana’s homeland security and emergency preparedness director, Casey Tingle, told reporters Friday. Other personal information to which the cyber-attackers apparently had access were Louisianans’ driver’s license numbers, vehicle registration data, handicap placard information, birthdates, heights and eye colors, Edwards’s statement said.
