Steve Ranger reports: The volumes of malware in general and ransomware in particular have increased again for the third year running, and as well as pumping out more attacks, cyber crooks are also altering their techniques. Global malware volume is up for the third straight year, with security company SonicWall recording 10.52 billion malware attacks in…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
Class Certification Denied for Data Breach Claim Brought by Bank Against Retailer
Balch & Bingham LLP write: Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama denied Southern Independent Bank’s (“Southern Independent’s”) motion for class certification following a data breach which allegedly affected over 2,000 financial institutions across the country. Southern Independent, a community bank located in south Alabama, brought a class action complaint…
Man paid hacker to get nude photos from UCF student’s Snapchat account, police say
I missed this one when it first appeared, but it’s worth posting so that parents can once again remind their kids about online safety. Read the full news story on this one as it provides a lot of details about the hacker convincing the victim to give him the login credentials to her account, and…
Critical flaw lets hackers control lifesaving devices implanted inside patients
Dan Goodin reports: The federal government on Thursday warned of a serious flaw in Medtronic cardio defibrillators that allows attackers to use radio communications to surreptitiously take full control of the lifesaving devices after they are implanted in a patient. Defibrillators are small, surgically implanted devices that deliver electrical shocks to treat potentially fatal irregular…
Facebook Stored Hundreds of Millions of User Passwords in Plain Text for Years
Brian Krebs reports: Hundreds of millions of Facebook users had their account passwords stored in plain text and searchable by thousands of Facebook employees — in some cases going back to 2012, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. Facebook says an ongoing investigation has so far found no indication that employees have abused access to this data. Read…
The Lawyer’s Duty When Client Confidential Information is Hacked From the Law Firm
Anton Janik, Jr. of Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard, P.L.L.C. writes: As attorneys, our livelihood is often heavily dependent upon the keeping of secrets. But in this complex electronic-data driven environment we work in, where physical security via locked doors and piercing alarms may no longer be solely sufficient to keep client confidences from…