Following the coordinated attack against 30 Minnesota water and wastewater utilities from July 26-27, 2026, hackers have attacked at least 11 other state water systems in the last week. As of July 30, 2026, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed that at least seven states were affected and issued an alert detailing the hackers’
cyberattacks
Joint Release Warns of Iranian-Backed Cyber-Attacks
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Cybersecurity
On June 30, 2025, a Joint Advisory was issued by the National Security Agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center issued a Joint Cybersecurity Information Sheet (CIS) titled “Iranian Cyber Actors May Target Vulnerable U.S. Networks and Entities of Interest,” warning…
Insurer Denies Coverage Under Professional Liability Policy for Lawyer’s Email Compromise
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Enforcement + Litigation
Insurance coverage for cyberattacks can be tricky for anyone to navigate, including lawyers. To illustrate this point, a case in New Jersey caught my eye that I thought would be an interesting read for our followers who are lawyers.
In the case of SIMIE Mutual Insurance Co. v. Rankin, No. 23-cv-3974, 2023 WL 4763390…
World Economic Forum’s Global Cybersecurity Outlook for 2023 Is Bleak
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Cybersecurity
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but remember that I am only the messenger. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Cybersecurity Outlook 23 Insight Report (published in collaboration with Accenture), although business leaders are more aware of the risk of cyber issues to their organizations, there remain challenges on how organizations are…
Social Media Enables Social Engineering Scams
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in New + Now
The more one uses and shares on social media, the more information is publicly available for cyber attackers to use to exploit users’ personal and professional information.
It is hard for people to realize that every single thing shared on any social media platform is available for friends and foes alike to access and use.
Hackers Target Russia in Support Of Ukraine
By Robinson+Cole's Data Privacy + Cybersecurity Team on
Posted in Cybersecurity
The world has rallied around Ukraine since Russian forces invaded this past week, including, it seems, hackers. The hacktivist collective Anonymous, which gained prominence between 2008 and 2014 with a series of high-profile politically motivated cyber-attacks against such disparate groups as the Church of Scientology and PayPal, has come out of the woodwork once again…
Update on Apache log4j and Kronos Security Incidents
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Cybersecurity
It was a crazy weekend for cyber-attacks. People seem surprised, but those of us in the industry aren’t surprised one bit. It is very logical and foreseeable that hackers are leveraging attacks that have maximum disruption on multiple victims, including third-party vendors and their customers. It is a “one-stop shop” strategy that is used every…
Virginia State Legislature IT Provider Hit with Ransomware
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Cybersecurity
The Division of Legislative Automated Systems, which provides IT services to the Virginia General Assembly (the Assembly), detected a ransomware attack on December 10, 2021, that included “extremely sophisticated malware” that affected all of its servers.
The attack comes right before the Assembly commences its session in January.
Governor Ralph Northam was briefed on the…
Companies Still Struggling with Implementing Backup Plans
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in New + Now
Backup plans continue to be one of the most important ways to respond to a ransomware attack. If you have a backup plan, have tested it, and can migrate to it, you are better equipped to be able to respond when your system is locked by ransomware. If you do not have backups of your…
Privacy Tip #127 – Emails Continue to Pose High Risk to Companies
By Linn Foster Freedman on
Posted in Privacy Tips
According to a Proofpoint study that analyzed 160 billion emails delivered to 2,400 global companies at the end of 2017, 88.8 percent of organizations were targeted by at least one email phishing attack over the past year. This is an increase over its 2016 report conclusion of 75 percent.
In addition, more identities were spoofed…