Howard County Executive Calvin Ball's Constant Contact account was used in a phishing attempt, the county announced Monday.
County officials said someone signed into the Constant Contact account at 6:30 p.m. Sunday. The unauthorized user created three phishing campaigns using the various mailing lists associated with the county executive's Constant Contact account, officials said.
County officials said emails were sent to approximately 35,000 recipients, of which 4,550, or 13 percent, opened the email and under 2 percent clicked the link.
No data was exported from the account, and no confidential data of recipients were stored in the Constant Contact account.
County officials said Constant Contact suspended the account around 8:40 p.m. Sunday and disabled the link attached to the phishing emails. The account has been turned back online.
"County Executive Ball expresses sincere apologies to those who received the email. He urges, as an extra precaution, to update your passwords regularly to ensure your information is secure," county officials said in a statement.
County officials said someone signed into the Constant Contact account at 6:30 p.m. Sunday. The unauthorized user created three phishing campaigns using the various mailing lists associated with the county executive's Constant Contact account, officials said.
County officials said emails were sent to approximately 35,000 recipients, of which 4,550, or 13 percent, opened the email and under 2 percent clicked the link.
No data was exported from the account, and no confidential data of recipients were stored in the Constant Contact account.
County officials said Constant Contact suspended the account around 8:40 p.m. Sunday and disabled the link attached to the phishing emails. The account has been turned back online.
"County Executive Ball expresses sincere apologies to those who received the email. He urges, as an extra precaution, to update your passwords regularly to ensure your information is secure," county officials said in a statement.