Missouri Dept. of Conservation warns of suspicious cyber activity

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation says a cybersecurity vendor recently notified the department of suspicious activity on one of its data servers.

On Friday, the department said it quickly activated an Incident Response Team to analyze MDC systems to remediate any issues and to gain further clarity on the scope of suspicious activity. 

MDC says a third-party cybersecurity team will conduct analysis of systems and files to gain additional insight into the scope of the suspicious activity.

“As it learns more, including if any individual data has been compromised, MDC will communicate directly with the impacted stakeholders,” said the department via a news release.

MDC has not released further information on the cybersecurity concerns at this time. MDC employs nearly 1,800 workers with a budget of $214 million, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The department issues permits for hunting and fishing in the state, while managing nearly 1 million acres of public land with more than 1,000 conservation areas.