Hackers breach US Marshals system with sensitive personal data

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The US Marshals Service suffered a major security breach this month when hackers broke into and stole data from a computer system containing a wealth of personal information about investigative targets and agency employees. , a spokesperson for the service said Monday.

The service, a division of the Department of Justice, is responsible for protecting judges, transporting federal prisoners and operating the federal witness protection program. The witness protection database was not breached, but the hackers had access to information on some fugitives wanted by federal authorities, according to a senior law enforcement official.

Justice Department officials determined the breach, which was carried out via ransomware on Feb. 17, to be a major incident, said Marshals Service spokesman Drew J. Wade. It was another in a series of breaches that underscored the difficulties governments have in protecting sensitive information as the frequency, scale and sophistication of ransomware attacks have increased in recent years.

Affected system contains sensitive law enforcement information, including court process returns, administrative information, and personally identifiable information about USMS investigation subjects, third parties, and certain USMS employees , Mr. Wade said in an email. Marshals Service officials took the system offline after discovering the attack, he said.

The department is investigating the origin of the attack and working on a damage assessment as Marshals Service officials race to limit the risk posed by the theft of highly sensitive personal and investigative information.

The breach was reported earlier by NBC News.

Several government agencies have fallen victim to hackers in recent years as a growing number of groups have acquired the tools and expertise to steal data, disrupt critical infrastructure and extort payments from victims, which also include businesses and individual.

A highly sophisticated Russian hacking attack in the last year of the Trump administration compromised the networks of more than 250 federal agencies and enterprises, including the Treasury, State, Commerce and Energy departments , and parts of the Pentagon.

A series of government computer hacks in 2015 from China stole the personal information of an estimated 21.5 million people, including addresses, medical and financial histories and other private details, of people who had been subject to a government background check. The hackers also took the personal data and fingerprints of federal employees.

A number of other smaller data breaches have targeted groups linked to the federal government, including the theft by Chinese government hackers of sensitive data from a navy contractor in 2018 and the theft in 2019 of dozens thousands of images of travelers and license plates stored. through customs and border protection.

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