The California State Treasurer’s Office announced Friday that it thwarted a cyber attack aimed at stealing tens of millions of dollars in investments from a “small Southern California city.”
In the announcement, State Treasurer Fiona Ma said her office and the FBI “foiled a cybersecurity attack that would have resulted in the loss of tens of millions of dollars” from an undisclosed jurisdiction participating in the state’s Local Agency Investment Fund, which leverages the investment expertise of the state on behalf of some 2,400 local governments.
“Based upon the fund’s procedures, and the due diligence of the treasurer’s team, the Treasurer’s Office flagged the fraudulent request to transfer funds and refused to process the request. The fund’s participant’s network was immediately secured. There was no financial impact to the participant or LAIF,” the office said in a press release.
The State Treasurer’s Office is urging local fund participants to maintain a heightened level of awareness and review their own security protocols in light of the attempt.
“The Treasurer’s Office has also added additional security measures to its own security protocol, even though its existing protocols worked as designed to stop this attempted cybercrime,” the state said in its release.
State Treasurer’s Office Raises Local Agency Cybersecurity Alarms
A thwarted cyber attack against the Local Agency Investment Fund has the State Treasurer’s Office warning local governments to review their security protocols.
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