Davey Winder reports: Ransomware is a cybersecurity threat that just won’t go away. Be it from groups such as those behind the ongoing Play attacks, or kingpins such as LockBit returning from the dead the consequences of falling victim to an attack are laid bare in reports exposing the reach of ransomware across 2024. A new ransomware threat, known as…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
RIBridges has many lines of defense. How was the system breached?
This article by Alexander Castro originally appeared in Rhode Island Current on January 10, 2025 and is republished here under Creative Commons License. It was updated to replace several paragraphs in the “Slow Leak” section to include a response Deloitte sent the author post-publication. Rhode Island’s online public benefits system appears to be a fortress…
PowerSchool Incident: A few resources for teachers, parents, and former students (2)
DataBreaches is trying to keep up with updates from PowerSchool, but from the outset, DataBreaches has recommended districts, parents, and teachers assume the worst — i.e., assume that all of the data really weren’t deleted permanently. On the premise of better safe than sorry, and reminding people that PowerSchool’s attorney is not YOUR attorney, here…
Hackers Claim To Have Compromised Data Broker Used By U.S. Government To Dodge Warrants
Over on TechDirt, Karl Bode writes: Gravy Analytics, the parent company of Venntel, is like many dodgy data brokers. The company gleans vast troves of sensitive U.S. behavior and location cellphone data, then generally sells access to that data to a long line of folks. Including the U.S. government, which has increasingly turned to buying…
HHS Office for Civil Rights Settles 9th Ransomware Investigation with Virtual Private Network Solutions
HHS OCR announced another settlement that is their ninth ransomware investigation and their third settlement as part of their Risk Analysis Initiative. This one stems from a breach by VPN Solutions that was previously reported on this site: Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a…
HHS Office for Civil Rights Settles 8th Ransomware Investigation with Elgon Information Systems
Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced an $80,000 settlement with Elgon Information Systems (Elgon), a Massachusetts company that provides electronic medical record and billing support services to covered entities, under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Security Rule. OCR enforces the HIPAA Privacy,…