Last week, the Tex-Mex restaurant chain On the Border suffered a data breach that impacted its payment acceptance systems in 27 states. The restaurant says that some credit card information of customers who visited the chain between April and August 2019 may have been compromised. In a press release, On the Border representatives said, “Our
Georgia
Jackson County, Georgia Pays Hackers $400,000 After Ransomware Attack
Cities and towns continue to be a profitable target for successful ransomware attacks. As we previously reported [view related posts], the list of cities and towns getting hit with ransomware attacks continues to grow.
Last week, Jackson County, Georgia admitted that it paid hackers $400,000 to obtain access to its information that was locked…
Technology Boost Helps Protect Super Bowl LIII
The biggest sporting event of the year is now over— and the Patriots, with the help of NFL super duo Tom Brady (the oldest quarterback to ever win the Super Bowl) and Bill Belichick (the oldest head coach to ever win the Super Bowl) took the title—New England’s sixth since 2002.
Over 100 million people…
Physician Convicted of HIPAA Violation Receives Probation
According to reports, a Georgia-based physician who previously pleaded guilty to criminal violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) received six months of probation from a Massachusetts federal judge earlier this week.
The physician – a pediatric cardiologist – pleaded guilty in February, 2018 to a misdemeanor count of wrongful disclosure of…
Election Day: Five Security Experts Conclude that Georgia’s Online Voter Database is Easily Hackable
According to reports by WhoWhatWhy and the Associated Press, five security experts have confirmed a private citizen’s allegation that the Georgia Online Voter Database contains a major security flaw and is vulnerable to hackers. According to one of the experts from the University of Michigan, anyone with access to an individual voter’s personal information could alter that voter’s information in the database. Another commented that the problem is easily detectable, and that it was clear that the system “has never been audited by any computer security professional.”
Continue Reading Election Day: Five Security Experts Conclude that Georgia’s Online Voter Database is Easily Hackable
Two Federal Criminal Convictions for Cyber-Attacks
The month of August saw two federal criminal convictions of individuals involved in significant cyberattacks.
In Boston, a federal jury convicted Martin Gottesfeld of one count of conspiracy to intentionally damage a protected computer and one count of intentional damage to protected computers. The charges resulted from 2014 Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks on…
All You Need to Know About Flying Your Drone During the Solar Eclipse
Next week, on August 21, a total solar eclipse (or the alignment of the sun, moon and earth), visible from the continental U.S., will take place for the first time in 38 years. The last time this cosmic event occurred, there were no battery-powered supercomputers—smartphones—in your hand to fly a self-stabilizing, GPS-guided aircraft with a…
DOJ Announces Project Focused on Admissibility of Forensic Evidence
This morning, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced an initiative aimed at “examining and strengthening forensic science.” Presumably, the initiative will impact how the DOJ approaches digital forensic evidence in criminal prosecutions.
Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein made the announcement at the International Association for Identification’s (IAI) conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The IAI…
Central Payment Co. Settles TCPA Class Action for $6.5 Million
Last week, Georgia federal judge, U.S. District Judge Clay D. Land, approved the final order and judgment to settle class action claims that Central Payment Co. LLC (Central Payment) violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) for $6.5 million. Lead plaintiff, Fred Heidarpour, claimed that Central Payment violated the TCPA by hiring third parties to…
Athens Orthopedic Clinic’s EMR compromised by hackers using vendor’s log-in credentials
Athens Orthopedic Clinic in Georgia reported on July 25, 2016, that a hacker gained access to its electronic medical record system at the end of June using the log-in credentials of a third-party vendor.
It has determined that patient records in the electronic medical record system were compromised during the hack and it is in…