The Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) this week issued Alert (AA20-301A) titled North Korean Advanced Persistent Threat Focus: Kimsuky warning U.S. businesses, and particularly those in the commercial sector, about tactics used by North Korean advanced persistent threat (APT) group Kimusky. https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ncas/alerts/aa20-301a The Alert, co-authored by the Federal Bureau of … Continue Reading
On October 27, 2020, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned the health care industry about “an imminent cybercrime threat to U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers.” According to the warning, which was shared during a conference call, the government has received “credible information of an increased and imminent cybercrime threat to U.S. … Continue Reading
The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) issued an alert on October 16, 2020, to raise awareness “of a new remote code execution vulnerability (CVE – 2020 – 16952)”, which affects Microsoft’s SharePoint product. According to the alert, “successful exploitation of this vulnerability would allow an attacker to run arbitrary code and to carry out … Continue Reading
Hall County, Georgia reported on October 7, 2020, that it was the victim of a ransomware attack that disrupted some of its systems, including email and telephone services in public buildings and the sheriff’s offices. Last week, the county indicated that in addition to telephone and email services, the ransomware attack also affected the county’s … Continue Reading
The National Security Agency (NSA) issued a Cybersecurity Advisory on October 20, 2020, entitled “Chinese State-Sponsored Actors Exploit Publicly Known Vulnerabilities,” alerting IT professionals to 25 vulnerabilities that Chinese state-sponsored hackers are using against U.S. businesses that “can be exploited to gain initial access to victim networks using products that are directly accessible from the … Continue Reading
Patching vulnerabilities has always been challenging, but these days, it is getting more and more complicated as manufacturers try to stay abreast of zero-day vulnerabilities and issue patches as quickly as they can. Microsoft is well-known for its Patch Tuesday, which is a monthly roll-out of the patches for vulnerabilities it has become aware of … Continue Reading
It is no secret that companies are experiencing an increase in security incidents following the transition from work in the office to work from home during the pandemic. There are a number of causes, including the difficulty of controlling the security of at-home technology equipment such as routers, printers, personal assistants and other IoT devices, … Continue Reading
Health care entities continue to face a barrage of attacks from cyber criminals, and it is widely reported that the health care industry is getting hit more frequently than any other industry. Ransomware is the name of the game for these attackers in all industries, including health care. Unfortunately, what is being touted as one … Continue Reading
On October 1, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued an advisory “to highlight the sanctions risks associated with ransomware payments related to malicious cyber-enabled activities.” The advisory acknowledges that the incidents of ransomware attacks on U.S. companies have risen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the advisory does … Continue Reading
As one of the largest information technology service providers to local governments, the cyber-attack on Tyler Technologies (Tyler) in Plano, Texas is a sobering reminder of how a cyber-attack on a third-party vendor can put government data at risk. According to reports, Tyler may have been the victim of a ransomware attack that disrupted its … Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has announced that it has settled potential violations of HIPAA with Athens Orthopedic Clinic PA (Athens) for $1.5 million, following an investigation of a data breach that occurred in 2016. The data breach compromised the protected health information of 208,557 individuals when … Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Management (VA) has announced that it is notifying approximately 46,000 veterans that their personal information was compromised when hackers were able to access an online application that allowed them to divert payments designated for community health care organizations that provide medical care to veterans to the hackers’ … Continue Reading
Cyber liability insurers are in a good position to provide insight into the types of cyber incidents that are hitting the industry. Coalition, a provider of cyber insurance globally, which “serves over 25,000 small and midsize organizations across every sector of the US and Canada,” issued its Cyber Claims Report this week about the claims … Continue Reading
Cyber-attackers know that city and town officials have been gearing up for the start of school and the potential for remote learning, in school or a hybrid model all summer. The daily monitoring of the coronavirus has kept officials alert and flexible as they focus on the start of school. Cyber-attackers also know that cities … Continue Reading
When the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) get together to issue an alert to warn us about a security threat, you can bet that the threat is real, and that they have seen it used successfully at an alarming rate. The joint advisory issued on August 20, … Continue Reading
The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have issued a joint Flash Alert to U.S. based businesses doing business in China about a remote targeting campaign whereby the tax software that Chinese domestic banks require foreign companies to install is loaded with malware. Trustwave researchers warned in June … Continue Reading
Auditors have to continue doing their job of auditing, but with the pandemic, audits now are rarely on-site. Many auditing firms are using remote technology to conduct audits, and companies are either forwarding files electronically, using cloud-based portals or meeting with their auditors over technology meeting platforms such as Zoom and/or teams. There are risks … Continue Reading
When the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) get together to issue a joint warning, you may wish to listen up. The NSA and FBI recently alerted the defense industry through a Cybersecurity Advisory of the risk of malware attacks targeted at the defense and aerospace sectors by Russia’s General … Continue Reading
Adding insult to injury for cruise ship company Carnival Corporation (Carnival) following the hit from the pandemic to the travel industry as well as a class action lawsuit relating to the Diamond Princess’ fate during the pandemic, Carnival disclosed in its August 17, 2020 8-K filing that it recently experienced a ransomware attack. According to … Continue Reading
It is being reported by ZDNet that the Maze ransomware group has attacked two companies that, apparently, refused to pay the requested ransom, so Maze, as it promises, recently released approximately 76GB combined of the companies’ data on the Internet. True to its threat, once Maze is able to infiltrate a company’s system, it exfiltrates … Continue Reading
The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced this week that it has entered into a Consent Order and fined Capital One $80 million for the data breach the company experienced last year. The OCC announced the fine and stated that it was the result of an investigation that found that Capital … Continue Reading
I have never been a fan of TikTok [view related post]. In general, I do not trust any Chinese technology companies because of the influence and requirements the Chinese government wields over them. The Chinese government has been stealing U.S.-based companies’ intellectual property for decades, has required U.S.-based companies to provide computer code in order … Continue Reading
On July 20, 2020, the Connecticut Insurance Department issued a bulletin to licensees reminding them that the Connecticut Insurance Data Security Law (“Act”) becomes effective on October 1, 2020 and providing guidance on compliance. The Act requires “all persons who are licensed, authorized to operate or registered, or required to be licensed, authorized or registered … Continue Reading
This week, I received a breach notification letter from a large financial institution stating that my personal information, including my name, Social Security number, account name and number, contact information, date of birth, and asset information may have been compromised. UGH—that is highly sensitive information. Unfortunately, this is not the first time my personal information … Continue Reading
