Tag Archive for: housing

Investigation recovers $45K in back wages from fruit company that denied dozens of agricultural workers full wages, transportation and housing

/in


Employer name:       Mt. Clifton Fruit Company LLC

Investigation site:     17581 Mechanicsville Road, Timberville, VA 22853

Investigative Findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found the employer violated multiple requirements of the H-2A agricultural worker program by failing to do the following:

Back wages recovered:        $45,384

Civil money penalties:          $8,998

Workers affected:                  55, which includes 50 H-2A program workers and five other workers

Quote: “Our investigation found the Mt. Clifton Fruit Company denied dozens of agricultural workers, many of whom traveled to the U.S. at the company’s request, safe housing and transportation, and their legally earned wages,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Roberto Melendez in Richmond, Virginia. “In addition to recovering back wages, we assessed penalties for these deliberate violations.”

Background: Mt. Clifton Fruit Company LLC is an agricultural fixed-site employer who specializes in growing and harvesting a variety of apples which are sold retail, direct to consumers and to processors in the U.S.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. The department can speak with callers confidentially in more than 200 languages through the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for i-OS and Android devices – also available in Spanish – to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

Source…

Los Angeles Housing Authority Hit by Ransomware Attack

/in


LA Housing Authority building at 2600 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles (Google Maps, Illustration by Priyanka Modi for The Real Deal with Getty)

LA Housing Authority building at 2600 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles (Google Maps, Illustration by Priyanka Modi for The Real Deal with Getty)

A ransomware gang is threatening to publish a large volume of data it stole from the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles unless a ransom is paid, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Last week, LockBit stole 15 terabytes of data from the housing authority, which provides housing and runs the federal voucher programs for 83,000 low-income families in the city, TechCrunch reported. The ransomware group threatened to release the information on Thursday if its demands were not met.

The data, according to the Times, ranged in terms of its sensitivity, from a holiday video to payroll, audit information and taxes.

HACLA said in a statement last Monday that it was assessing the damage tied to a “cyber event.”

“We are working diligently with third-party specialists to investigate the source of this disruption, confirm its impact on our systems, and to restore full functionality securely to our environment as soon as possible,” the statement said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “We remain committed to providing quality work as we continue to resolve this issue.

It’s the second recent cyber attack on a Los Angeles public agency to have been attacked recently. The Los Angeles Unified School District was targeted in September by the ransomware group Vice Society, which published stores of data, including Social Security numbers, health information and students’ psychological assessments, when the district refused to pay.

The attack on the housing authority comes at a particularly difficult time for a housing authority that is among the largest in the nation.

In October, after opening its Section 8 waitlist for the first time in five years, the housing received 223,400 applications for low-income housing, the LAist reported.

LockBit recently apologized for an attack on Canada’s largest children’s hospital, placing blame on an affiliate group.

— Ted Glanzer

Source…

Ransomware attack hits Indianapolis Housing Agency’s Section 8 system

/in


The Indianapolis Housing Agency, the federal agency responsible for providing housing to low-income tenants in the city, has been battling a cyber-attack for the past three weeks that’s compromised their entire information technology system.

The agency has not released details about the motive or identity of the individuals behind the ransomware attack, which is a type of malicious software often unknowingly downloaded onto computers through methods such as innocuous email attachments. The software prevents users from accessing computer files and systems. It can result in massive disruptions and loss of information.

As the name suggests, ransomware attacks can involve demands for ransom payments in exchange for the system being restored.

Ransomware:What to do if you are hit by an attack

The ransomware attack delayed the Indianapolis Housing Agency’s ability to send out October rent payments to landlords for the federal housing choice voucher program, also known as Section 8, which 8,000 Indianapolis families depend on. Section 8 provides rental assistance to very low-income families, the elderly, and disabled individuals for housing on the private market, and the agency administers the program for Indianapolis.

Source…

City warns employees about computer hack of public housing agency

/in


INDIANAPOLIS — Almost 24 hours after FOX59 News exclusively reported that the Indianapolis Housing Agency was the target of a ransomware attack, Indianapolis city employees have finally been told of the hack and advised to maintain email security vigilance.

IHA officials admit that as early as Monday of this past week their system was hacked by unknown actors in pursuit of potential personal information of 25,000 Marion County residents, vendors who do business with the agency and financial transactions between IHA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

A statement released by attorneys representing IHA Thursday night gave no indication of knowledge of the hacker’s identity or demands.

Today at 12:39 p.m., the City’s Information Services Agency issued the following statement to municipal employees:

Recently, the Indianapolis Housing Agency (IHA) became a victim of a ransomware attack. In a ransomware attack, cybercriminals attempt to disrupt organizations by locking down the organization’s computers and IT systems in exchange for the payment of a ransom. The data maintained by IHA, including personal information of residents and employees, as well as vendors, is potentially at risk.  

The IHA network is isolated from the City-County network, so there is no immediate threat to City-County or constituent data as a result of this incident.  

ISA has implemented several protocols to maintain, and improve, the safety of our computing environment. Earlier this year, ISA introduced security awareness training which is required annually for staff. As additional protection, we are installing an encryption tool on the hard drives of all City-County computers to protect network data from unauthorized access if the equipment is lost or stolen. Learn more about ISA security enhancements. 

SA encourages all staff to continue to report emails that you believe might be suspicious, either by using the Outlook PhishAlarm reporting tool or by calling the ISA Service Desk at 317-327-3075.

Professor Scott Shackelford of the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University said the costs of recovering stolen information or repairing a system after a…

Source…