Borough of Westwood suffered from malware attack

Westwood, a borough in the Bergen County of New Jersey, has suffered from a malware attack that compromises information stored in their systems.

Westwood learned about unusual activity on their network on Dec. 22, 2018. Immediately the borough has launched an investigation about this activity, which included hiring a leading outside forensic investigation company, to determine nature of this activity. The investigation has revealed that unauthorized third-parties has gained access to some portions of Westwood systems and then introduced malware into their network.

The information present in the Westwood systems include names, bank account details, Social Security numbers, and state identification number or driver's license number, which may have been compromised. Though, till date, there was no proof of any information getting accessed, viewed, or obtained by unauthorized parties.

In one security notice, Westwood said that "based on the available evidence, the forensic investigation was unable to determine what, if any, information on the relevant Westwood systems may have been accessed. Therefore, in an abundance of caution, we are taking to steps to provide notice of this incident".

Westwood takes this malware attack incident, as well as security of the personal information very seriously. Upon learning about this incident, Westwood took necessary steps so as to contain this incident and secure their network. Besides, it has reported this incident to the FBI, Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, and New Jersey State Police. It has also begun notifying the possibly impacted individuals about this incident.

Moreover, Westwood has requested the possibly affected individuals to remain alert against incidents of fraud or identity theft, review their account statements, as well as monitor the credit reports for any kind of suspicious activity.

Under the U.S. law, the adults are allowed to obtain a credit report annually for free from all the three main credit reporting bureaus (i.e. Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) by calling the toll-free number 1-877-322-8228 or visiting the website www.annualcreditreport.com. Individuals can also request for a free credit report copy by directly contacting the three main credit bureaus.

Westwood has also provided a dedicated toll-free number - (877) 830-7929 - for the individuals looking for more information about this incident.

» SPAMfighter News - 7/17/2019