It’s getting difficult to keep up with the jargon of all of the new digital scams. The SaaSes in the beginning became regular business terms, such as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and Business Processes-as-a-Service (BPaaS). But then the criminal enterprises came up with Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS), Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) and now Crime-as-a-Service (CaaS). A new Crime-as-a-Service offering is targeting … Continue Reading
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released its first privacy framework tool (the Privacy Framework) on January 16, 2020. In the Executive Summary, NIST states that with the unprecedented flow of data of individuals through a complex digital ecosystem, individuals may not be able to understand the potential consequences for their privacy as they … Continue Reading
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is warning of a heightened likelihood of Iranian cyber-attacks following the escalation of tension between the U.S. and Iran. This follows the warning last week by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The FBI and DHS issued a bulletin to law enforcement groups warning of potential physical and cyber-attacks … Continue Reading
Following the escalation of tensions between the United States and Iran in the past week, the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center (H-ISAC) is warning hospitals and health systems that Iran could attack health organizations, which are considered critical infrastructure, and that they make sure their systems are being updated with patches. H-ISAC further recommended … Continue Reading
After the killing of Qassem Soleimani on January 3, 2020, by the U.S. government, the cybersecurity news industry has been abuzz about whether Iran will engage in cyber terrorism, and if so, to what degree, as part of its pledge to strike back at the U.S. On January 5, Forbes reported that the first instance … Continue Reading
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a grave warning to U.S. businesses and critical infrastructure operators on January 6, 2020, alerting the public that Iran poses a cyber terrorism threat to the United States following the death of Iranian Quds Force commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani. The bulletin explains that Iran’s previous plots against the … Continue Reading
In view of Iran’s vows to retaliate against the United States for the death of Quassem Soleimani, the NYDFS has issued an industry letter to all regulated entities regarding the need for heightened cybersecurity precautions. The letter notes that it “is particularly concerning that Iran has a history of launching cyber-attacks against the U.S. and … Continue Reading
It is being reported that LifeLabs, a Canadian lab company that is the largest provider of laboratory diagnostics and lab testing services in Canada, recently paid an undisclosed ransom to hackers who compromised its computer system that housed patient lab data. The hackers apparently compromised the system, exfiltrated data and demanded that the company pay … Continue Reading
Approximately 3,000 customers of the Fort Worth Water Department were notified recently that their credit card information may have been compromised as a result of a data breach suffered by its vendor, Click2Gov [view related post]. Customers who pay their bill by phone or in person were not affected, nor were customers who have automatic … Continue Reading
Just hours after the shooting incident at the Pensacola Air Station last week, city officials in Pensacola discovered that the city was the victim of a ransomware attack. Many of the city’s computer systems were affected and were disconnected from the internet. City officials reported that all offices were open and that emergency services, including … Continue Reading
The predictions set forth in Experian’s Seventh Annual Data Breach Industry Forecast make sense and are worth a read. We are starting to see these types of intrusions and scams, and our experience is that once these types of attacks work, they increase exponentially. Hackers continue to get more sophisticated and seem to always be … Continue Reading
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards activated the State’s cybersecurity team recently after several State offices’ computers started acting strangely. The IT team identified an intrusion of Ryuk ransomware and which programs were affected, and shut down computers to avoid spread of the infection. During the outage, some state offices had no access to email, internet … Continue Reading
National Veterinary Associates (NVA), a large network of veterinary hospitals and clinics, has reportedly been the victim of a ransomware attack. According to the reports, NVA employs more than 2,600 veterinarians, with over 700 veterinary hospitals and clinics in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. NVA was reportedly hit with the Ryuk ransomware virus, … Continue Reading
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) has announced that approximately 220,000 Medicare beneficiaries’ card numbers have been compromised “by an unknown person or organization.” That means CMS doesn’t know who or how the cards were compromised. Although CMS says it is working to “remedy the situation,” in the meantime, it is checking billing systems … Continue Reading
It has been reported by Troy Hunt, the security researcher who provides the “Have I Been Pwned” free breach notification service, that 1.4 million passwords and personal information of customers of GateHub, a cryptocurrency wallet service provider, and 800,000 customers of EpicBot gaming bot provider RuneScape are for sale on the web. According to Hunt, … Continue Reading
Security researchers Intezer and IBM X-Force have identified a new ransomware that is seriously vicious. It’s PureLocker—named because it is programmed in PureBasic language, which is apparently unusual. The scary thing about this ransomware being written in PureBasic programming language is that it can target different platforms and is transferable between different operating systems, including … Continue Reading
Cyberliability insurance provider Beazley Insurance Company has analyzed its internal breach response data and determined that in its experience, there has been a thirty-seven percent (37%) increase in ransomware attacks this most recent quarter from the last quarter of 2019. Twenty-five percent (25%) of those incidents were against managed service providers (MSPs). An MSP assists … Continue Reading
CyberX recently released its 2020 Global IoT/ICS Risk Report (Report), which compiles survey questions and answers from 1,821 production networks of electric utilities, and oil and gas companies. Although the Report admitted that oil and gas companies and electric utilities tend to be ahead of the curve on cybersecurity compared to other sectors, they are … Continue Reading
On October 13, 2019, TrialWorks, a legal case management software platform, announced to its customers, that it was experiencing a hosting outage at its data center and would provide updates as more was learned about the situation. The update issued the next day admitted that TrialWorks was in the midst of a ransomware attack. It … Continue Reading
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, recently introduced comprehensive privacy legislation, known as the “Mind Your Own Business Act” (MYOB Act), to provide protections for the private data of Americans and to hold corporate executives accountable if they abuse such information. While this isn’t the first such legislation introduced in Congress and is unlikely to be the … Continue Reading
Although Amazon and Google respond to reports of vulnerabilities in popular home smart assistants Alexa and Google Home, hackers continually work hard to exploit any vulnerabilities in order to listen to users’ every word to obtain sensitive information that can be used in future attacks. Last week, it was reported by ZDNet that two security … Continue Reading
A reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer discovered that sensitive data of hepatitis patients were accessible online through a Philadelphia Department of Public Health (DPH) website tool without the need for a password. The Inquirer was able to access the data of some 23,000 patients who had contracted Hepatitis C. The vulnerable data included the patient’s … Continue Reading
A recent Ponemon Institute study finds that small and mid-sized businesses continue to be targeted by cybercriminals, and are struggling to direct an appropriate amount of resources to combat the attacks. The Ponemon study finds that 76 percent of the 592 companies surveyed had experienced a cyber-attack in the previous year, up from 70 percent … Continue Reading
The Federal Bureau of Investigations Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) recently issued a public service announcement warning private companies about the increasing numbers of ransomware attacks affecting private industry. According to the warning, “Although state and local governments have been particularly visible targets for ransomware attacks, ransomware actors have also targeted health care organizations, industrial … Continue Reading
