ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI-FOX2Now.com) -
The St. Louis police department reported Friday it has been the victim of a cyber attack. The department discovered the breach this week but it happened between February 4 and 5. Twenty-two victims or witnesses to crimes and two crime suspects are being notified that their personal information including social security numbers may have been stolen by the hacker.
As of Friday afternoon, police were still trying to contact all 24 potential victims to give them advice on protecting their credit and to offer them a free, year long subscription to a credit protection service. However, no fraud or identity theft has been reported.
The chief warrant officer for the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's office, Ed Postawko said he did not think the cyber crime will impact any prosecution efforts. The crmies occurred in 2002, 2003 and 2005 and may already have been closed.
Cybercrime experts in the police department are handling the investigation and identified the victims. These officers say the attack was launched via email and appeared to target multiple computers. Only one was actually broken into.
Some police department employees may also have had their names and phone numbers stolen, but their social security numbers were not accessed.
Criminal records, mug shots, report writing and the department's financial programs were not interrupted or compromised. The department's own computer security is under review to determine if additional measures should be taken to prevent such attacks in the future.
As of Friday afternoon, police were still trying to contact all 24 potential victims to give them advice on protecting their credit and to offer them a free, year long subscription to a credit protection service. However, no fraud or identity theft has been reported.
The chief warrant officer for the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's office, Ed Postawko said he did not think the cyber crime will impact any prosecution efforts. The crmies occurred in 2002, 2003 and 2005 and may already have been closed.
Cybercrime experts in the police department are handling the investigation and identified the victims. These officers say the attack was launched via email and appeared to target multiple computers. Only one was actually broken into.
Some police department employees may also have had their names and phone numbers stolen, but their social security numbers were not accessed.
Criminal records, mug shots, report writing and the department's financial programs were not interrupted or compromised. The department's own computer security is under review to determine if additional measures should be taken to prevent such attacks in the future.
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