Kelvin Onaghinor, a Nigerian, allegedly waged an e-mail attack that targeted Los Angeles County employees and potentially affected more than 750,000 people.
In May, an email phishing attack hit, targeting L.A. county employees.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Cyber Investigation Response Team (CIRT) launched a long and complex investigation into the phishing scheme.
Onaghinor, 37, faces nine counts, including unauthorised computer access and identity theft, according to the office of the Los county chief executive.
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He has not been arrested and officials are not sure if he is on US soil.
On May 13, L.A county officials said 108 county employees were tricked into providing their user names and passwords through an e-mail designed to look legitimate.
Some of the workers had confidential client or patient information in their e-mail accounts as a result of their county duties.
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Among the data potentially accessed were names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers, financial information and medical records — including diagnoses and treatment history — of clients, patients or others who received services from county departments.
“An exhaustive forensic examination by the county has concluded that approximately 756,000 individuals were potentially impacted through their contact with the following departments: Assessor, Chief Executive Office, Children and Family Services, Child Support Services, Health Services, Human Resources, Internal Services, Mental Health, Probation, Public Health, Public Library, Public Social Services and Public Works,” according to the statement.
The county “promptly began the notification process” Thursday after an arrest warrant was issued for Onaghinor.
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