Shaun Nichols reports: The CIA was so focused on developing whizzbang exploit code, it left any thought of basic computer security principles on the kitchen counter before dashing off to work each morning. That oversight led to the super-agency inadvertently spilling its hacking tools ultimately into the hands of WikiLeaks, which duly disclosed details of the spies’…
Category: Government Sector
Lessons learned from the ANPR data leak that shook Britain
Ax Sharma reports: On April 28, 2020, The Register reported the massive Automatic Number-Plate Recognition (ANPR) system used by the Sheffield government authorities was leaking some 8.6 million driver records. An online ANPR dashboard responsible for managing the cameras, tracking license plate numbers and viewing vehicle images was left exposed on the internet, without any password or…
Ransomware victims keep paying, and ransomware groups keep growing
Graham Cluley writes: The City of Florence in northern Alabama has agreed to pay a ransom of US $300,000 worth of Bitcoin to hackers who compromised its computer systems and deployed ransomware. At an emergency meeting this week, the Florence City Council unanimously voted to give in to the extortionists’ demands and pay the cybercriminals…
Russia says Germany has not provided any evidence of Bundestag hack
Earlier this week, I linked to an item stating that Germany is urging its fellow European Union governments to impose the bloc’s first-ever sanctions for hacking. The incident involved Dmitri Badin, a Russian suspect in the 2015 cyberattack on the German parliament. Catalin Cimpanu subsequently reported: Russian officials said this week that German authorities have…
Knoxville ransomware attack shutters parts of city website
Teri Robinson reports: A ransomware attack took out parts of the Knoxville city website but did not compromise personal or financial information. The Tennessee city’s public safety operations were spared, Knoxnews cited Chief Operations Officer David Brace, deputy to the mayor, as saying. Brace said the fire department discovered the attack but didn’t disclose the amount or…
eHealth ransomware attack potentially catastrophic for Saskatchewan health card holders
Now, five months later, eHealth admits it still doesn’t know exactly what information was taken, who took it, where it went or what it’s being used for. And that is a recipe for disaster. CBC News reports: The bad guys slipped the virus into the eHealth Saskatchewan computer system on Dec. 20. For the next…