May 14, 2024 at 06:54AM
The City of Helsinki announced a cyberattack compromising personal information of students and personnel. Initially affecting usernames and email addresses, it expanded to include IDs, addresses, and sensitive data like education and medical records. Over 80,000 individuals are likely affected. The breach exploited a known vulnerability, prompting measures to prevent future attacks. No evidence of ransomware has been found.
From the meeting notes, it is clear that the City of Helsinki experienced a significant data breach affecting both students and personnel. Personal information, including usernames, email addresses, IDs, addresses, and other sensitive data, was compromised in a cyberattack discovered on April 30. The breach also included access to network drives containing confidential information related to the education division.
The potential impact of the data breach is extensive, affecting more than 80,000 students and guardians. Additionally, the breach may have exposed information on children’s education and care fees, student welfare details, medical certificates, and sick leave records for the division’s personnel.
The City of Helsinki acknowledged deficiencies in their security update and device maintenance controls and procedures that allowed the attackers to exploit a known vulnerability in a remote access server. Steps have since been taken to prevent similar breaches in the future, and all networks are being closely monitored.
It is important to note that the full extent of the breach is still being determined, and specific details on the compromised information have not yet been provided. There is also mention of the possibility that individuals under nondisclosure restrictions may have had their data accessed.
It’s worth highlighting that although it is unclear if this was a ransomware attack, no ransomware group has claimed responsibility for the intrusion. Overall, this cyberattack has substantial implications for the City of Helsinki and those affected by the breach.
This summary encapsulates the key takeaways from the meeting notes regarding the data breach incident.