Cyber-attack on WSI gains access to personal data of North Dakotans

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - Workforce Safety & Insurance (WSI) says it was a victim of a cyber security attack on June 28, which involved personal data of more than 180 people.

A WSI employee noticed unusual activity on their computer after opening an email attachment and reported the incident to the WSI Help Desk. The computer was secured and removed from the state network.

WSI contacted North Dakota Information Technology (NDIT), who referred the incident to the NDIT Cyber Analysis and Response team. This team recently completed a forensic analysis of the computer, which determined that the phishing attack was isolated to a single computer and did not spread onto the state network.

WSI says there is evidence that the cyber attacker gained access to personal data in the employee’s email through the email attachment that contained malicious code. After reviewing the email data, WSI determined the emails contained personal information of 182 injured employees.

WSI notified those affected by the incident to provide information about the attack and to offer identity theft protection services.

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/WSICyber.