Fergie's Tech Blog

FBI: No Credit Card Data Breach in N.H. State Server Case

A ComputerWorld article by Todd R. Weiss, via NetworkWorld, reports that:

An FBI investigation has concluded that no consumer credit or debit card information was stolen from a New Hampshire state computer server in February because a suspect Cain & Abel password recovery program found on the hardware had never been activated.

In an announcement on Friday, New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte said that the FBI probe determined that no data theft occurred because the program, which can be misused by hackers for malicious purposes, was never run. "As a result of this finding, the state has concluded that it is very unlikely that any credit card or debit card information was accessed by identity thieves," Ayotte said in a statement.

The FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice and New Hampshire officials began investigating the potential security breach after Cain & Abel was found on a state server during a routine security check two months ago. The New Hampshire Division of Motor Vehicles and the state Veterans Home used the server to transmit financial information, while the New Hampshire Liquor Commission used it as a backup for sales transactions. The server held only credit card numbers; no other personal information was stored on it, officials said.

posted by Fergie @ 4/18/2006 10:55:00 AM