Talking Points: Protecting yourself from cyber security threats

MINNEAPOLIS -- In the past few weeks, Minneapolis Public School data has been stolen by a hacker and put on the dark web. If it can happen here, can it happen anywhere?

The leaked information includes: dumped payroll information, protected health information, home addresses, phone numbers, disciplinary records, student records, pictures of students and staff, safety plans, union grievances, misconduct complaints and civil rights investigations.  

MPS isn't the first school district in Minnesota and it's highly unlikely it will be the last to be impacted. According to state officials, schools and universities were the targets of at least 78 cyber attacks in 2022, in addition to 111 counties and 39 municipalities.  

Esme Murphy spoke with Supervisory Special Agent Jacob Iverson about the FBI's investigation of domestic and foreign cyber threats to our information and infrastructure.

Locally, 38 law enforcement agencies seek the assistance of Computer Forensic Services to investigate and solve cyber crimes. Murphy spoke with their Chief Technical Officer and former member of the U.S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force about the "dark web" and the Minneapolis Public Schools' response to the data breach.

For decades, listeners could count on WCCO's Tech Talk anchor Doug Swinhart to answers their computer questions. Swinhart shared tips to recognize phishing scams and how to browse the web with common sense.