Harper Neidig reports: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Wednesday told Congress that it only has 40 full-time employees dedicated to overseeing internet privacy and data security and requested lawmakers give the agency more resources to adequately police tech companies. FTC Chairman Joseph Simons, a Republican appointed by President Trump, wrote in a letter to…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
How hackers use ransomware to hide data breaches and other attacks
Dan Swinhoe reports: Although ransomware attacks are on the decline — Darktrace suggests infections have decreased by as much as 28 percent between 2017 and 2018 — the threat these extortion attacks pose is still very real and for reasons beyond disruption to operations. More sophisticated attackers are using ransomware to cover their tracks in…
Michigan practice folds after cyberattackers wipe out all their files
On March 29, WWMT in Michigan reported: Hacked and held for ransom by a computer virus, a doctor’s office in Battle Creek was forced to close its doors after, doctors said, they refused to pay and their entire system was wiped out. Dr. William Scalf told Newschannel 3 ransomware locked up the system at Brookside…
HHS security policies should focus on incentives, not penalties, health IT leaders say
Heather Landi reports: The federal government needs to provide more resources and incentives to help healthcare organizations better protect their IT systems and data from cyberattacks, according to health IT security leaders. Currently, the Department of Health and Human Services’ privacy and security standards are too focused on compliance and are unduly punitive to healthcare…
Homeland Security issues warning about serious Medtronic flaw that might allow hackers to tamper with cardiac devices
I guess it’s not “click-bait” when the federal government issues a warning on it. But before you panic, read through the full DHS advisory below to see under what conditions this could potentially happen. And now that I’ve given you the “don’t panic yet” advice, I will readily admit that when my mother got a…
Plaintiffs in Casino Rama class-action lawsuit and defendants argue in court over how big the class should be.
In November, 2016, Casino Rama in Ontario disclosed that it had been hacked. Shortly thereafter, we learned that some of that data had already been leaked online. The hackers, who signed themselves as “Anonymous Threat Agent,” wrote that the breach was “extremely simple” and that “no security systems were in place leaving the whole casino…