Catalin Cimpanu reports: The group behind the Maze and Egregor ransomware operations are believed to have earned at least $75 million worth of Bitcoin from ransom payments following intrusions at companies all over the world. “We believe this figure to be much more significant, but we can only assess the publicly acknowledged ransom payments. Many victims never…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
Proctor-U agrees to security audit thanks to inquiries by Senator Wyden
Sean Lyngaas reports: A company whose software has been widely used to administer law school entrance exams during the coronavirus pandemic has agreed to an independent audit of the software after a U.S. senator raised cybersecurity concerns about the product. Alabama-based ProctorU’s web-browser extension software has allowed people across the U.S. to take the LSAT…
Utah is the 2nd State to Create a Safe Harbor for Companies Facing Data Breach Litigation
Joseph J. Lazzarotti, Jason C. Gavejian, and Maya Atrakchi of JacksonLewis write: In mid-March, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed into law the Cybersecurity Affirmative Defense Act (HB80) (“the Act”), an amendment to Utah’s data breach notification law, creating several affirmative defenses for persons (defined below) facing a cause of action arising out of a breach…
What Really Caused Facebook’s 500M-User Data Leak?
Lily Hay Newman reports: Since Saturday, a massive trove of Facebook data has circulated publicly, splashing information from roughly 533 million Facebook users across the internet. The data includes things like profile names, Facebook ID numbers, email addresses, and phone numbers. It’s all the kind of information that may already have been leaked or scraped from some…
North Korean Hackers Threatened Bithumb Exchange With a $16M Ransom Amid the 2017 Data Breach, Says Report
Felipe Erazo reports: A new report commissioned by the U.S. secret services unveiled what happened behind the attack launched by North Korean hackers against a South Korean crypto exchange. The case is about a breach on June 29, 2017, which exposed data tied to over 30,000 customers stemming from Bithumb. Hackers Threatened to ‘Destroy’ Data…
Cyber Criminals Hone Attacks Against Schools
Kathleen E. Dion of Robinson & Cole writes: The FBI recently issued a Flash alert warning higher education institutions, k-12 schools, and seminaries about increasing numbers of ransomware attacks affecting the education industry. According to the warning, “[s]ince March 2020, the FBI has become aware of PYSA ransomware attacks against U.S. and foreign government entities,…