Last week, the New Jersey state assembly passed legislation, Assembly Bill 520 (the Bill), that provides for fines and prison terms for individuals convicted of unsafe and/or prohibited unmanned aerial systems (UAS or drone) operations. Specifically, the Bill will provide for up to six months in jail and fines of up to $1,000 for a
New Jersey
NJ Law Restricting Drones Will Have to Be Rewritten
The town of Garfield, New Jersey has introduced new regulations related to hobbyist drone operation—or better yet, the non-operation of drones above residences other than your own, commercial zones, roadways, government or public buildings and specific property and parks that the city designates. Hobbyist drone operators may only fly their drones over their own residences.…
Maryland Sheriff’s Office Recovers Stolen Construction Goods Through Drones
Last week, Maryland’s Cecil County Sheriff’s Office used an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to recover nearly $400,000 worth of stolen construction equipment, which also led to the arrest of the culprit. The New Jersey State Police, Pennsylvania State Police and Delaware Fish and Wildlife Natural Resources Police were all investigating this case—the construction equipment had…
Horizon BCBS of New Jersey Pays State $1.1 million for HIPAA violations
We often forget that state AG’s have jurisdiction under the HIPAA Omnibus Rule to levy fines and penalties against HIPAA covered entities for violations. This is because the Office for Civil Rights has traditionally taken the primary role in enforcing HIPAA. But Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (Horizon) was reminded of the…
CryptoWall Ransomware Hits New Jersey Spine Center
The New Jersey Spine Center was hit with a variant of CryptoWall ransomware on July 27, 2016 that encrypted its electronic health record and its backup files. A double whammy.
28,000 patient records, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, and account information were part of the files that the hackers were able…
Bitcoin traders allegedly bribe pastor to conduct transactions
New York federal prosecutors allege in an unsealed indictment that Trevor Gross, a New Jersey pastor at Hope Cathedral and Chairman of a credit union, was bribed $150,000 by illegal bitcoin traders to complete transactions for Coin.mx.
The unregistered bitcoin exchange was reportedly behind the hacking of a major bank that affected up to 83…
Ukranian cyber hacker pleads guilty
Sergei Vovnenko, a Ukranian hacker, pleaded guilty last week in federal court in Newark, New Jersey to aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit wire fraud by using more than 13,000 computers to steal log-in information and credit card data.He faces a mandatory sentence of two years in prison and will be sentenced on May…
Hacker arrests and prosecutions update
We previously reported that alleged Ukranian hacker Sergey Vovnenko, also known as “Flycracker,” “Fly” and “Darklife” was extradited from Italy, arrested and charged in New Jersey federal court for his part in disbursing the nasty malware Zeus on October 13.
During his arraignment last week, he plead not guilty to charges, including wire fraud conspiracy,…
NJ first state to restrict access to car recording device data
Did you know that your car has a recording device that records the speed, direction, and location of your vehicle while you are driving it, as well as your steering, braking, seat belt use and erratic driver behavior?
On March 26, 2015, the New Jersey General Assembly unanimously approved the first (to our knowledge) state…