St. Joseph County Hit by Cyberattack Claimed by Iranian Hacking Group Handala
St. Joseph County, Indiana, has confirmed a data breach attributed to the Iranian hacking group Handala, which claims to have exfiltrated over two terabytes of sensitive data from multiple local organizations. Among the affected entities are health centers and the county prosecutor’s office, raising concerns about the exposure of confidential records.
County IT officials reported that the compromised server was cloud-based and isolated from internal systems, suggesting the attack targeted externally accessible infrastructure. The breach was first disclosed by local authorities, though the exact timeline of the incident remains unclear.
Handala, a group with suspected ties to Iranian state-sponsored cyber operations, has previously been linked to data theft and disruptive attacks. The full scope of the stolen data and its potential misuse are still under investigation. The incident underscores the growing threat posed by nation-state actors targeting public sector and healthcare-related systems.
Source: https://www.1039waynefm.com/2026/04/02/st-joseph-county-hit-with-data-breach/
St Joseph County United Way cybersecurity rating report: https://www.rankiteo.com/company/st-joseph-county-united-way
St. Joseph County Police Department cybersecurity rating report: https://www.rankiteo.com/company/st-joseph-county-police-department
"id": "ST-ST-1775148503",
"linkid": "st-joseph-county-united-way, st-joseph-county-police-department",
"type": "Cyber Attack",
"date": "4/2026",
"severity": "100",
"impact": "4",
"explanation": "Attack with significant impact with customers data leaks"{'affected_entities': [{'industry': 'Public Sector',
'location': 'Indiana, USA',
'name': 'St. Joseph County',
'type': 'Government'},
{'industry': 'Healthcare',
'location': 'Indiana, USA',
'name': 'Health centers',
'type': 'Healthcare'},
{'industry': 'Legal/Public Sector',
'location': 'Indiana, USA',
'name': 'County prosecutor’s office',
'type': 'Government'}],
'attack_vector': 'Externally accessible cloud-based server',
'data_breach': {'data_exfiltration': 'Yes',
'personally_identifiable_information': 'Likely',
'sensitivity_of_data': 'High',
'type_of_data_compromised': 'Sensitive data, confidential '
'records'},
'description': 'St. Joseph County, Indiana, has confirmed a data breach '
'attributed to the Iranian hacking group Handala, which claims '
'to have exfiltrated over two terabytes of sensitive data from '
'multiple local organizations. Among the affected entities are '
'health centers and the county prosecutor’s office, raising '
'concerns about the exposure of confidential records.',
'impact': {'data_compromised': 'Over 2 terabytes of sensitive data',
'identity_theft_risk': 'High',
'systems_affected': 'Cloud-based server isolated from internal '
'systems'},
'investigation_status': 'Ongoing',
'motivation': 'Data theft, potential nation-state objectives',
'references': [{'source': 'Local authorities'}],
'threat_actor': 'Handala',
'title': 'St. Joseph County Hit by Cyberattack Claimed by Iranian Hacking '
'Group Handala',
'type': 'Data Breach'}