Bill Toulas reports: The Finish National Cybersecurity Center (NCSC-FI) is informing of increased Akira ransomware activity in December, targeting companies in the country and wiping backups. The agency says that the threat actor’s attacks accounted for six out of the seven cases of ransomware incidents reported last month. Wiping the backups amplifies the damage of the attack and allows…
Author: Dissent
US School Shooter Emergency Plans Exposed in Raptor Technologies Data Leak
Matt Burgess reports: Thousands of emergency planning documents from US schools—including their safety procedures for active shooter emergencies—were leaked in a trove of more than 4 million records that were inadvertently made public. Last month, security researcher Jeremiah Fowler discovered 800 gigabytes of files and logs linked to school software provider Raptor Technologies. The firm…
Erie VA Medical Center says it regrets veteran info disclosure
Keith Gushard reports: The Erie VA Medical Center says it regrets any preventable disclosure of sensitive veteran information and takes appropriate action to inform and protect impacted individuals as quickly as possible. The statement, issued Monday, comes almost eight full weeks after a printing error was discovered about the potential disclosure of limited information that…
UK CISO’s are cowing to ransomware demands more than you think, here’s why they shouldn’t pay up
Emma Woollacott reports: One-third of UK-based CISOs have confessed to paying ransomware groups millions of dollars in recent years in a bid to alleviate the impact of an attack, according to new research. Analysis from security firm Trellix found four-in-ten UK CISOs have managed a ransomware attack in the last five years – and in…
Politically motivated hacks: Moscow ISP hit in response to Kyivstar cyberattack; Taiwan bombarded with cyberattacks ahead of election
Politically motivated hacks continue. Two current examples outside of the U.S.: James Pearson and Tom Balmforth report: Hackers linked to Ukraine’s main spy agency have breached computer systems at a Moscow-based internet provider in retaliation for a Russian cyber attack against Ukrainian telecom giant Kyivstar, a source with direct knowledge of the operation told Reuters…
Former Executive Sentenced to Probation for HIPAA Violation
Steve Alder reports: Mark Kevin Robison, a former vice president of Commonwealth Health Corporation (now Med Center Health) in Kentucky has been sentenced to 2 years’ probation and ordered to pay $140,000 in restitution after reaching a plea agreement with federal prosecutors over a HIPAA violation. Robison pled guilty to knowingly disclosing the protected health…