Over the past few weeks, there have been several cyberattacks on Connecticut municipalities and boards of education. On the municipal side, internet thieves have intercepted wire transfer instructions in two Connecticut municipalities resulting in the theft of significant sums.
Most recently, an outside party accessed a Superintendent’s email and requested W-2 information for the school district’s employees. While local police, IRS and FBI are investigating the matter, it is believed this information was stolen with the intent of filing false tax returns for the affected employees.
In the same week, an unauthorized party in another school district again accessed the Superintendent’s email and requested bank account information from the district’s business office. Fortunately, being suspicious of the request, the Business Manager inquired of the Superintendent whether the request was valid, was advised it was not, and therefore did not release the information.
While in this day and age we all need to be cautious of providing sensitive information over the internet, in light of the latest incidents extra care should be taken when releasing sensitive information to anyone, including individuals we know. Telephonic or in person confirmation should be sought, particularly if the request seems out of the ordinary.
For more information of such scams click on the link below.
http://ptac.ed.gov/sites/default/files/W2%20Phishing%20Scam.pdf