CalMatters
By Zayna Syed
Early this year, state Sen. Dave Min discovered that his Social Security number, date of birth and other personal information had been published on the Dark Web, hidden networks that aren’t accessible through search engines and are considered a free-for-all for cybercriminals across the world. Not only was his own information compromised, he said, but so was that of his three children.
The experience has inspired Min, a former law professor at UC Irvine and Irvine Democrat, to start a senate select committee on cybersecurity and identity theft prevention, the first senate committee of any kind at the state level to focus specifically on cybersecurity.
Cyberattacks have increased in the past couple of years, said Ronald Manuel, a supervisor on the FBI’s Los Angeles cyber task force, and rose during the coronavirus pandemic. Recent cyberattacks have targeted thousands of businesses, hospitals, a police station and a major pipeline...