Tag Archive for: Iowa

Almost 37K impacted by Iowa utility ransomware attack

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Iowa-based water, electricity, and internet service provider Muscatine Power and Water had data from 36,995 of the town’s over 50,000 residents compromised following a ransomware attack in late January, which no threat operation has since claimed, reports The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

Attackers infiltrated Muscatine Power and Water’s corporate network environment and obtained access to individuals’ names and Social Security numbers, as well as their customer proprietary network information associated with their telephone service subscriptions, said the utility in breach notification letters. While there has been no evidence suggesting any identity theft stemming from the incident, impacted individuals are being given free credit monitoring services for a year. Such a development comes weeks after the utility disclosed that the attack resulted not only in an eight-hour-long interruption of internet services but also a days-long disruption of business services even though no critical controls systems were affected.

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Northern District of Iowa | Iowa Air National Guardsman Pleads Guilty to Possessing Child Pornography

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Kevin Swanson, 35, from Sioux City, Iowa, entered a guilty plea in federal court on May 4, 2023, to possession of child pornography.

In a plea agreement, Swanson admitted that between August 2020, and August 2021, he used an Internet-based, peer-to-peer (P2P) network to knowingly receive visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including depictions involving prepubescent minors who had not reached the age of 12.  Swanson had over 1,168 images and 4 video files of child exploitation materials.

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set for a later date after a presentence report is prepared.  Swanson was taken into custody by the United States Marshal pending sentencing.  Swanson faces a sentence of up to 20 years imprisonment without the possibility of parole, a fine of not more than $250,000, a mandatory special assessment of $100 and a term of supervised release of at least 5 years to life.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.  For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Sioux City Police Department, and the Nebraska State Patrol.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kraig R. Hamit.

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. 

The case file number is 22-4080.  Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.

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Northern District of Iowa | Man Who Possessed Child Pornography Sentenced to Over Five Years in Prison

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A man who possessed over 3,500 photographs and 25 videos of child pornography was sentenced today to more than 5 years in federal prison.

Stephen Gruber, age 60, from Sumner, Iowa, received the prison term after an October 13, 2022 guilty plea to possession of child pornography.

At the guilty plea, Gruber admitted he possessed child pornography on his computer between November 2016 and March 2017.

Gruber was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  Gruber was sentenced to 63 months’ imprisonment.  He was also ordered to make restitution.  He must also serve a 5-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.  For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

Gruber is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Liz Dupuich and investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the Sumner Police Department.. 

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. 

The case file number is 22-cr-2054.

Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.

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Ransomware attacks hit Iowa schools, including Davenport, although public often left in dark

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In the summer of 2019, school Superintendent Devin Embray learned the Glenwood District in Mills County, Iowa, was being held hostage by foreign ransomware attackers.

The hackers encrypted student data that included schedules, contact information and demographic information, making it inaccessible to the school’s administrators, Embray said. They demanded $130,000 worth of cryptocurrency from the school district to unlock the data.

Glenwood paid $10,000 in ransom.

“There was really nothing we could do on our end,” Embray said.

The 2019 Glenwood attack was one of the first known examples of a surge in ransomware attacks on Iowa schools. While Glenwood chose to publicly acknowledge it, many schools targeted by cybercriminals do not.

Most ransomware attacks go unreported and communities are left in the dark about what may have happened to their private information and their taxpayer dollars.

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When the Davenport School District was targeted in September, school officials said they thought they were dealing with computer-server glitches as the district’s internet, phone and email systems experienced disruptions.

Later in the month, signs of a cyber invasion became more evident, but the district declared it had “thwarted” an attack.

A data-extortion group known as “Karakurt” has since claimed to have stolen huge amounts of personal data from the Davenport district. Though the attack first was detected in early September, state officials were not notified of the breach until the end of October.

In early November, a district spokesman first acknowledged the hackers had demanded a ransom, but the district did not pay.

Schools advised how to handle attacks

Increased ransomware attacks bring steep insurance costs, rigorous requirements to qualify for insurance and, in some cases, disruptions in students’ education.

Aaron Warner, CEO of ProCircular, a…

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