Arkansas Cyber Attacks

Infrastructure Affected

Public Safety
Government
Medical
Education
 
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Public Safety

El Dorado Police Department, Union County

Breach Type – Unknown, Ransomware

El Dorado News-Times
July 2nd, 2020
  • Police department's computer systems were restored following cyberattack
  • Bad actors used ransomware, demanded bitcoin in payment
  • FBI assisted local law enforcement with investigation
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Fulton County Sheriff's Office

Breach Type - Hack

Areawide Media
May 16th, 2018
  • Sheriff Al Roork spoke of a security breach
  • Attack attempts crashed computer at Sheriff's Office
  • Sheriff expressed concern to secure sensitive data on server
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Johnson County Sheriff's Department

Breach Type - Ransomware

www.4029tv.com
February 21st, 2018
  • Hackers holding sheriff's office information for ransom
  • Hackers did not specify a price, sheriff does not intend to pay ransom
  • Deputies writing reports by hand
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Carroll County Sheriff’s Office

Breach Type - Ransomware

WOhio News
December 26th, 2016
  • Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, infected with ransomware
  • Paid 3 bitcoin to unlock computer systems
  • Hackers encrypted the department's management system, which holds reports, bookings, and other forms of day-to-day operational data
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Local Government

County computers mostly back online; data breach under investigation, Ouachita County

Breach Type – Hacking, Ransomware

CAMDEN ARK NEWS
December 1st, 2022
  • “A data breach at Apprentice Information Systems, which led many Arkansas counties to shut down servers, has been mostly repaired, according to county officials. Ouachita County Judge Robert McAdoo said, "It's my understanding that we are partially back up. AIS is still tweaking on some of the finishing touches we have to do." Both the Ouachita County treasurer and clerks' offices were affected by the breach."
  • "Ouachita County Treasurer Missy Chambers said, "For the treasurer's office. we have both of our computers back up. AIS called us Monday and Tuesday, we got all the back up in this office. What we are waiting on right now is getting our secure banking back up to full force. We're still able to do payroll. They have to get a paper check; we can't do direct deposit right now."
  • ”Scott Hollis, Union County's information services manager, told the Union County Quorum Court on Nov. 17 that the security breach, which impacted 54 Arkansas counties, was under federal investigation.”
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Cyberattack hits Crawford County Assessors office

Breach Type – Unknown, Malware

5 News Online
December 29th, 2021
  • “According to Crawford County Judge Dennis Gilstrap, a cyberattack was discovered at the County Assessors office on Monday, Dec. 27.”
  • “Gilstrap says he is not exactly sure of the correct phrasing, but employees discovered files missing from a main computer's desktop folders.”
  • “County workers quickly contacted Apprentice, the company that handles the county's cyber security. Gilstrap said the company quickly shut down the servers so they could keep the attack from growing.”
  • “An investigation is now underway to determine how the county's system became vulnerable who may be behind it.”
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City of Glenwood, Pike/Montgomery County

Breach Type – Hacking, Ransomware

THV11
February 3rd, 2020
  • $18,000 nearly stolen during ransomware cyberattack
  • City mayor confirmed government had to wipe affected computers
  • Bank was able to stop the theft before it occurred
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Mountain Home City

Breach Type - Ransomware

Baxter Bulletin
March 14th, 2017
  • Able to reinstall server – thanks to backup files
  • No information was lost or stolen
  • Ransomware encrypted 90,000 files in a minute and a half
  • Virus encrypted files that were not opened
  • No personal files affected, water and waste water plants not affected
  • No ransom paid
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Arkansas State Website

Breach Type - DDoS

Route Fifty
February 27th, 2017
  • Gov. Asa Hutchinson claims Arkansas State Website shut down after series of DDOS attacks
  • No data lost
  • No personally identifiable information stolen
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Medical

Howard Memorial Hospital hit by data breach, Howard County

Breach Type – Unknown, Data Breach

NWAOnline.com
December 30th, 2022
  • “A Howard County hospital is the latest Arkansas health care provider to announce a data security breach that could put patients and employees at risk, per a hospital release."
  • "Howard Memorial Hospital became aware of suspicious network activity Dec. 4, the release says. An investigation discovered the potential for files to be stolen by an "unknown actor" between Nov. 14 and Dec. 4."
  • "The hospital, located in Nashville, employs 250 employees and sees about 10,000 emergency department visits annually. The healthcare system, which includes outpatient clinics, had a gross revenue of $76 million during the 2021 fiscal year.”
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Arkansas Hospital Notifies Patients of Healthcare Data Breach, Howard County

Breach Type – Unknown, Data Breach

Health IT Security
January 4th, 2022
  • “Arkansas-based Howard Memorial Hospital (HMH) began notifying patients of a healthcare data breach. On December 4, HMH discovered the suspicious activity and “allegations made by an unknown actor that data had been stolen from the HMH network.”
  • "Further investigation revealed that an unauthorized party potentially stole certain files between November 14 and December 4. The files contained patient names, contact information, Social Security numbers, health insurance information, medical history, treatment information, medical record numbers, physician names, and dates of birth. In addition, the names, contact information, dates of birth, direct deposit information, and Social Security numbers of some current and former HMH employees were impacted."
  • "HMH takes this event and the security of your information seriously. Upon learning of this event, we immediately took steps to secure our network and ensure that we could maintain operations in a safe and secure fashion,” the notice stated. “As part of our ongoing commitment to the privacy of personal information in our care, we are working to review our existing policies and procedures and to implement additional administrative and technical safeguards to further secure the information on our systems.”
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St. Bernards Total Life Healthcare, Craighead County

Breach Type – Unknown, Data Breach

Jonesboro Sun
March 15th, 2021
  • More than 500 clients had personal information exposed in cyber attack
  • Information exposed included names, dates of birth, addresses, Social Security numbers, and diagnosis codes
  • Following the attack prevention measures have been put in place
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Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Pulaski County

Breach Type - Unknown, Malware

Arkansas Online
March 6th, 2020
  • The hospital was forced to restart it's systems following a cyber threat
  • All patient care continues to function as normal with some services being delayed as the threat is resolved
  • According to the federal Department of Health and Human Services 306 separate data breaches are caused hacking or other related incidents are under investigation
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Education

Greene County Tech School District services back up following hack

Breach Type – Hacking, DoS

KATV
December 8th, 2022
  • “The Greene County Tech School District now has its technology-related services up and running following a cyberattack, our content partner Region 8 News reported. The School district was hit with a hack on Nov. 11, making it difficult to use any electronics. Superintendent Scott Gerrish said the incident sent everyone into a bit of a frenzy. Officials were working to break habits that teachers and students had gotten used to.”
  • "You know for the last 20 years we have been trying to teach teachers how to teach without technology and so last Friday and this week we had to reverse that process,” Gerrish said. Without technology, the office needed to find ways to communicate, as Gerrish explained they had no form of the internet whatsoever. “No internet, no phone, anything that was connected to the HVAC network controls went down,” he said. Teachers moved from PowerPoints to whiteboards and from laptops to notebooks, with Gerrish noting it’s their job as educators to put education first.
  • “We use technology at every turn in education and although you think about, ‘What would I do without the internet,’ you never have to deal with it,” he said. “The shock set in very quickly that we need to move and make sure we need to continue the learning process and that is our focus.” As of Sunday, Nov. 27, services to the school district have been restored, and officials said they would not be paying the ransom to the hackers behind the attack.
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KAIT8.com
November 11, 2022
  • ”Computer problems sent one Region 8 school district into time out."
  • "Greene County School District reported Friday that a virus or ransomware attack had left them without computer and phone access.”
  • ”District leaders assured parents that there were “no safety concerns” and that they were “working diligently” to get everything working.”
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Little Rock School District reports potential data breach, Pulaski County

Breach Type – Unknown, Data Breach

ARK TIMES
December 1st, 2022
  • “The Little Rock School District (LRSD) recently detected unauthorized activity on its network. Upon discovery, we immediately activated our incident response protocols and hired independent computer forensic experts to help us determine the nature and scope of the activity. We have also taken steps to notify law enforcement and will cooperate with any subsequent investigations into this incident."
  • "The forensic analysis is still ongoing; however, the analysis has determined that some data may have been taken from our network. At this time, we do not know exactly what data may be at issue, but we are working as quickly as possible to be able to ascertain that information. Should we find any evidence student or employee data was impacted, we will notify all appropriate parties.”
  • ”LRSD has implemented additional monitoring and threat detection software to supplement the security measures already in place and has taken steps to further secure its network. We are committed to completing a detailed review of our internal systems and will take everything we learned from the incident to strengthen our network for the future.”
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Gosnell Elementary School, Mississippi County

Breach Type – Unknown, Ransomware

KAIT 8
August 26th, 2020
  • School district was victim of ransomware cyberattack
  • District, state, and third party IT personnel investigated
  • Officials believed that private information remained intact
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Valley Springs School District

Breach Type - Ransomware

DataBreaches
January 16th, 2017
  • Hackers infected computer systems with malicious software
  • Demanded payment of $8,500
  • School district refused to pay ransom & will move forward mitigating malware
Read More


 
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