When the Virginia State Lottery Agency observed “irregular behavior” earlier this month, it led to the penetration of around 1,000 online lottery accounts. The intrusion occurred because hackers from the outside got passwords that account owners had used elsewhere. The lottery temporarily froze the accounts of those who were impacted and required them to reset their passwords before the accounts could be unlocked. This was done to prevent unauthorized access to critical information.
John Hagerty, a representative for the company, said on Thursday that “no personal or financial information was accessed or compromised. There’s no question about that; it was an opportunity for instruction” Hagerty remarked. “We have the impression that our security processes were successful and are doing their job as intended.”
On February 9th, the lottery informed players who participate online that some of their accounts had been stolen due to the usage of email addresses and passwords that internet hackers had acquired from another source. Using this information, hackers were able to get into accounts, but they couldn’t get “personally identifiable information” like Social Security numbers or banking information because these kinds of details aren’t made public.
After the discovery of “strange behavior,” the government agency said that it would temporarily restrict user accounts, compel account holders to reset their passwords, and, in certain instances, authenticate their identities. The email had the following message: “If you have not already done so, we highly recommend you finish that procedure using a strong password that is unique to your account.”
As more people play the lottery’s games on their computers, including the Instant Win games that can only be played online, the issue of Internet security has become a much more pressing one at the lottery. The lottery currently has approximately 500,000 online accounts that are active on any given day. People who want to play the lottery must be at least 18 years old and live in Virginia, which is checked using different web technologies.
According to Haggerty, there are frequent attempts made to get through the lottery’s security measures, just as there are at all other public and private firms that do business through the internet. “This happens all the time; bad actors are attempting to sneak in,” one of the employees said.
The approximately 1,000 accounts that were impacted represent around 0.2% of the total accounts used by online gamers. According to what Hagerty wrote in an email for the lottery, the organization does not know “where the bad actor received credible user names and passwords.” “We have no doubt in our minds that it was not our location.”
He continued by saying, “We do know that one of the big factors in this was individuals using the same user names and passwords for several accounts.”
According to what Hagerty has stated, “There are dangerous actors out there who want to take your information.” “We were able to figure out where the problem came from, and no one’s personal information was leaked.”
“But bad guys are going to keep trying, so this is a great time to remind everyone to follow cybersecurity best practices,” which include regularly changing passwords, creating strong, unique passwords for individual accounts, and regularly monitoring their accounts for unusual activity. “But bad guys are going to keep trying,” so this is a great time to remind everyone to follow cybersecurity best practices.
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