Over on Infosec.Exchange, Wendy Nather mentioned an open letter that is noteworthy for its approach to improving cybersecurity. The letter to presidential candidates’ transition teams, relevant federal agencies, and members of Congress begins: The federal government focuses primarily on cybersecurity as it relates to national security. This priority is essential, but the framing allows many small,…
Category: Commentaries and Analyses
How many similar breaches can one entity have in one year before regulators do something?
How many data breaches can an entity have before either some regulator steps in with a corrective action plan or something happens to reduce the likelihood of more breaches? Consider the following: Breach # 1 On February 22, 2022, Minuteman Senior Services (MSS) identified suspicious activity related to an employee’s email account. According to the notification…
North Korean Group Collaborates with Play Ransomware in Significant Cyber Attack
Ravie Lakshmanan reports: Threat actors in North Korea have been implicated in a recent incident that deployed a known ransomware family called Play, underscoring their financial motivations. The activity, observed between May and September 2024, has been attributed to a threat actor tracked as Jumpy Pisces, which is also known as Andariel, APT45, DarkSeoul, Nickel Hyatt,…
Albany ENT & Allergy Services settles state charges stemming from two patient data breaches; agrees to spend $2.25M on security program
In April 2023, DataBreaches reported two ransomware groups had each listed Albany ENT & Allergy Services (AENT) on their respective leak sites. But one month later, when AENT sent notifications to regulators and 224,486 affected employees and patients, its notification letter made no mention of any ransomware attack, any encryption of files, any ransom demands,…
School ransomware attacks are on the rise. What can districts do?
Kara Arundel reports: … Ransomware — where threat actors use malware to block access to network systems and then demand payment to unlock it — has been ballooning in the K-12 sector over the last seven years, according to the K12 Security Information eXchange. Known as K12 SIX, the national nonprofit helps protect schools from…
Postel S.p.A. and the 2023 Data Breach: The Medusa Attack and Sanctions from the Data Protection Authority
Over on SuspectFile, Marco A. De Felice writes: In August 2023, Postel S.p.A., a leading Italian company in the postal services and digital communications sector, became the victim of a serious cyberattack. The Medusa cybercriminal group exploited unresolved vulnerabilities in the company’s systems, gaining access to a large amount of sensitive data. This breach raised significant…