Dear COBA Members/Retirees;

COBA has learned that the Union has been victimized by a Ransomware Cyber Attack. Very similar to recent attacks suffered by Nassau County Agencies including  the Nassau County Deferred Compensation Plan. This type of cyber attack seizes, then encrypts information on a given Computer Server, essentially holding the files for "ransom".

Once we became aware of this issue, we immediately notified our IT company, and the Nassau County Police Depts Electronics Fraud Bureau. Upon advice of the PD, our IT company immediately shut down our system, isolated it, electronically scrubbed all computer access points as well as the main computer server system and changed all passwords. Fortunately, all COBA data is backed up on separate systems by our IT company and only documents generated within the last month or so were lost due to the scrub.

Initial investigation into this incident shows that documents could potentially have been exposed from the server by this attack. Documents such as Member Life Insurance Application Records with Social Security Numbers and Dates of Birth on them.

We have notified the FBI of this incident along with working with the Police Department.

On the advice of the PD's Electronics Fraud Unit and the Federal Trade Commission, in order to take the most pro active approach to making sure that our members personal information is protected, we recommend that our members do the following:

Place a "Free Fraud Alert" on your credit file. A fraud alert tells creditors to contact you before they open any new accounts or make changes to your existing accounts. Contact any of the 3 major credit bureaus to do this. Once one credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the others are notified to place the same alerts. But we advise you to alert all 3. The initial fraud alert will stay on your credit report for one year. You can renew it again after one year.

Equifax:     equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services

                  or call 1-800-685-1111

Experian:    experian.com/help

                  or call 1-888-397-3742

TransUnion:  transunion.com/credit-help

                  or call 1-888-909-8872

Ask each Credit Bureau to send you a free credit report after it places a fraud alert on your file. Review your credit reports for accounts or inquiries that you don't recognize. You should do this routinely anyway.

If you suspect any activity on your credit report, visit the Federal Trade Commission's website at: IdentityTheft.gov to report any suspicious activity and get recovery steps.

You should also contact your local Police Precinct or the NYS Attorney General's Office.  

You can also consider a free credit freeze which means potential creditors cannot access your credit report. To do this, also contact each of the Credit Bureaus listed above. The freeze will remain in effect until you ask them to lift it.

The investigation into this data breach is ongoing.

We will keep you updated with further developments or advice as it progresses.

Contact the COBA Union office or any Delegate with any questions.

Brian Sullivan, COBA President