Angus Loten and James Rundle report: The Trump administration wants state and local governments to play a bigger role in protecting water utilities, ports and other critical infrastructure from cyberattacks. In an executive order signed Tuesday, President Trump directed White House senior security advisers to draw up a national resilience plan to protect critical infrastructure…
Author: Dissent
Union County’s computer network breached, personal information accessed
John Beauge reports: Personal information including Social Security numbers may be at risk as the result of unauthorized access and acquisition of data stored on a Pennsylvania county’s computer network. “We determined that the cyber criminals took certain data from our network, which included personally identifiable information,” the Union County commissioners revealed Friday. “The affected…
Attorney General James Secures $975,000 from Auto Insurance Company over Data Breach
From a March 20 press release from NY Attorney General Letitia James: NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today secured $975,000 in penalties from Root, an auto insurance company, for failing to protect the personal information of approximately 45,000 New Yorkers. The data breach was part of an industry-wide campaign to steal consumers’…
Indiana health systems unite to help smaller providers tackle cybersecurity
Naomi Diaz reports: Health systems in Indiana are joining forces to help provide small healthcare providers with actionable cybersecurity measures. The initiative, called Healthcare Cyber in a Box, was developed in collaboration with the Indiana Executive Council on Cybersecurity, a state-led effort originally established by former Gov. Mike Pence and continued under Govs. Eric Holcomb…
HHS’ Office for Civil Rights Settles HIPAA Security Rule Investigation with Health Fitness Corporation; $227k monetary penalty plus corrective action plan
From HHS’s press release today: Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement with Health Fitness Corporation (Health Fitness), located in Illinois, that provides wellness plans to clients across the country, resolving a potential violation under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)…
Mission, Texas expects ransomware impact to last months
Matt Wilson reports: The city of Mission expects the fallout from a debilitating ransomware attack last month to have an impact for months. The city said so in correspondence last Thursday seeking an attorney general’s opinion allowing it to withhold contracts with outside cybersecurity experts and legal council asked for by the Progress Times through…