Maria Korolov reports: Back in 2019, fewer than 20% of enterprises suffered repeat ransomware attacks, while during the pandemic, the percentage rose to around 30%. And it didn’t stop with the pandemic, with 38% of organizations surveyed in 2022 reporting two or more successful ransomware attacks, those that attackers were able to lock systems, encrypt…
Author: Dissent
Russian National Charged with Ransomware Attacks Against Critical Infrastructure
The Justice Department today unsealed two indictments charging a Russian national and resident with using three different ransomware variants to attack numerous victims throughout the United States, including law enforcement agencies in Washington, D.C. and New Jersey, as well as victims in healthcare and other sectors nationwide. According to the indictment obtained in the District…
Another business associate attacked: 286,699 patients being notified of attack on medical debt collection firm (UPDATED)
Update of May 22: R&B Corporation of Virginia d/b/a Credit Control Corporation reported the incident to HHS on May 13 as affecting even more people than had been reported to Maine. They reported 345,523 patients were affected. Nicole Livas reports: A security breach of patient accounts may have put your private information at risk. Credit Control Corporation…
Only months after dealing with one problem, Academy Mortgage gets hit with a ransomware attack
Months after agreeing to pay $38.5 million to settle federal charges it violated the False Claims Act by improperly originating and underwriting mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration, Utah-headquartered Academy Mortgage now finds itself in the also-unenviable position of having its sensitive files dumped on the dark web by the AlphV (BlackCat) ransomware group….
Our Definition of Harm Is Harmful
Bill Fitzgerald writes: In April 2023, the class action lawsuit against Illuminate Education was thrown out because the judge in the case determined that the people whose data was impacted by the breach could not show any harm, or any instances of identity theft, from the breach. This decision is both fully in line with past situations…
Ransomware corrupts data, so backups can be faster and cheaper than paying up
Simon Sharwood reports: Ransomware actors aim to spend the shortest amount of time possible inside your systems, and that means the encryption they employ is shoddy and often corrupts your data. That in turn means restoration after paying ransoms is often a more expensive chore than just deciding not to pay and working from our…