[ISN] Federal workers notified after virus breach at tech consulting firm

From: InfoSec News <alerts_at_private>
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2009 00:07:50 -0600 (CST)
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=security&articleId=9127264

By Robert McMillan
February 3, 2009 
IDG News Service

Employees at federal security agencies are being notified that their 
personal information may have been compromised after hackers planted a 
virus on computer networks of government contractor SRA International 
Inc.

SRA began notifying its employees and all of its customers after 
discovering the breach recently, company spokeswoman Sheila Blackwell 
said today. The malicious software may have allowed hackers to get 
access to data maintained by SRA, including "employee names, addresses, 
Social Security numbers, dates of birth and health care provider 
information," the Fairfax, Va.-based company said in a notification 
posted at the Maryland attorney general's Web site.

The breach is embarrassing for SRA, a 6,600-employee technology 
consulting company that sells cybersecurity and privacy services to the 
federal government. The company wouldn't say which federal agencies were 
affected by the breach, but in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission 
filings, it lists intelligence agencies and the U.S. Department of 
Defense, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. National 
Guard among its clients.

The virus was apparently not detected by the company's antivirus 
software, according to the notification letter. The company said that it 
is investigating the incident with U.S. government and law enforcement 
authorities and noted that it has worked with its antivirus vendor to 
add the ability to detect the malware. SRA didn't say which virus had 
infected its networks, but it said it believes that other companies may 
have been hit by the same problem.

[...]


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Received on Tue Feb 03 2009 - 22:07:50 PST

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