LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A warning about hackers gaining access to the computer systems and servers of organizations, including law-enforcement agencies, was issued this morning by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
The department's Fraud & Cyber Crime Bureau shared information of a recent server vulnerability that allows attackers to gain continuous access to computer systems, as well as compromise authentication methods and pull data and email files by executing data on vulnerable Microsoft Exchange Servers.
Numerous organizations, including law-enforcement agencies, reported being compromised after patching their systems with recent updates. Those updates will not eliminate the threat if the server was already compromised, because the attackers have established backdoors and/or installed malware on systems which have been accessed, said the department.
Agencies in Los Angeles County were encouraged to take immediate action, including patching their system with the March 2021 Exchange Server Security updates, to stop this vulnerability, run the Microsoft Exchange On-Premise mitigation tool and check their system for any compromises.
This attack has the potential to cause financial losses and the loss of sensitive information that could disrupt an organization's operations, the department said.
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