South Carolina DoR Protected by “The Hand” in Wake of Data Breach – Video

Governor Nikki Haley has provided another update regarding the status of the investigation that focuses on the South Carolina Department of Revenue (DoR) data breach, as a result of which the details of 4.5 million consumers and businesses have been exposed.

According to Haley, there is “no way to say [the breach] could have been prevented.” On the other hand, it appears that the hackers relied on a malicious file, which they sent to one of the agency’s employees, in order to gain access to the valuable information.

If this is the case, then the breach could have been easily prevented with some cyber security training and a proper antivirus solution.

The governor has revealed that a security solution, worth $160,000 (124,000 EUR), has been purchased from Mandiant.

The Mandiant Intelligent Response (MIR) appliance, dubbed “The Hand” is capable of shutting down computers if a virus or malware is detected, or if large amounts of data are transferred.