Insurance
Home›Insurance›Property Insurance›Arizona cyberattack exposes data for 1.3 million, stre…
Arizona cyberattack exposes data for 1.3 million, stressing self-insured fund
The attack began Sept. 24 and was contained in under two hours, with officials citing uncertainty over whether compressed backup files were readable.
Arizona court officials said a cyberattack on the state court system exposed sensitive information for about 1.3 million people, putting the operation of Arizona’s self-insurance approach to cyber risk to the test. According to Insurance Business, the notice said criminal hackers accessed and copied backup court files after an employee clicked a malicious link in a phishing email.
Officials said the largest dataset came from the Courts’ Fines/Fees and Restitution Enforcement, or FARE, program, containing names, Social Security numbers, and case numbers for people with court debts dating back about 30 years. The attackers also copied more than 150,000 Foster Care Review Board reports dating back to 2010, along with records on active and inactive protective orders.
Insurance Business reported that the court said the attack started on Sept. 24 and was shut down in less than two hours after it was identified. The court added that there was no evidence the data had been shared, and that it was unclear whether most of the compressed backup files could be easily read.
The court said Arizona does not purchase cyber coverage for each agency the way a private company might. Instead, state law establishes a cyber risk insurance fund within the Department of Administration, alongside its general risk management program, according to Insurance Business.