Hackers stole approximately $500,000 from the city of Tallahassee, Florida, by diverting city employees’ paychecks, according to USA Today. The attackers hacked a third-party vendor that provides the city’s payroll services, and then redirected direct deposit payments to attacker-controlled accounts.
Tallahassee officials only learned of the attack after they were contacted by the city’s bank. The incident is still under investigation, but city spokeswoman Alison Faris said the attack is suspected to have originated outside of the US.
City officials said attackers try to compromise the city’s defenses every day, and last month a malicious Dropbox link was sent out from the email account of the city manager. Officials don’t believe this attack was related to the payroll theft, although IT experts noted that this type of phishing attack is often a precursor to more advanced attacks.
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