Robert McMillan, Dustin Volz, and Aruna Viswanatha report: Extortion payments from ransomware, a hacking scourge that has crippled hospitals, schools and public infrastructure, fell significantly last year, according to federal officials, cybersecurity analysts and blockchain firms. One of the examples cited surprised me, as I had no idea a Conti call center had so many…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
GSA not tapping data on unauthorized access attempts at federal facilities, report says
Chris Riotta reports: The General Services Administration is failing to act on data linked to access cards used to enter federal facilities, according to a new oversight report. A two-year audit conducted between 2020 and 2022 revealed over 32,000 failed access attempts at GSA-managed facilities, the Office of Inspector General report said, possibly indicating attempts to gain…
6 Class Actions: Lawyers Across the Country Move Quickly After Hospital Data Breach
Charles Toutant reports: A New Jersey hospital has been hit with six class action suits after hackers obtained patient information in a data breach. CentraState Medical Center allegedly failed to take adequate precautions to prevent such attacks, and then compounded the error by waiting six weeks to notify plaintiffs and class members about the breach,…
True Health New Mexico settles lawsuit over 2021 ransomware incident
True Health New Mexico has agreed to a class action settlement to resolve claims that the health insurance provider failed to protect patient data from an October 2021 data breach. As reported by Top Class Actions, plaintiffs in several lawsuits claimed True Health New Mexico failed to protect their sensitive information from a ransomware attack…
Bits ‘n Pieces (Trozos y Piezas)
CO: The Red de Salud del Norte Joaquín Paz Borrero Hospital hit with ransomware The Cali District Government has implemented its contingency plan due to a computer attack on Joaquín Paz Borrero Hospital. The hospital is part of the Northern Health Network. “They encrypt the information on server number 4 with passwords and leave us…
Nl: Three arrested in massive hacking, data theft and blackmail probe; One was a whitehat researcher
DutchNews.nl reports: Amsterdam’s cyber crime police team has arrested three young men as part of a major investigation into hacking, data theft, blackmail and money laundering involving the private details of tens of millions of people. The three, aged 21 and 18, were picked up on January 23 and two have been restricted to contact…