Phil Muncaster reports: Researchers have recorded a 935% year-on-year increase in double extortion attacks, with data from over 2300 companies posted onto ransomware extortion sites. Group-IB’s Hi-Tech Crime Trends 2021/2022 report covers the period from the second half of 2020 to the first half of 2021. During that time, an “unholy alliance” of initial access brokers and…
Category: Malware
Planned Parenthood’s Los Angeles clinics hit by ransomware; patient data stolen
Reuters reports: Planned Parenthood’s Los Angeles clinics suffered a ransomware attack in October and personal information of 400,000 patients was stolen, a spokesperson for the women’s reproductive healthcare organization said on Wednesday. Spokesperson John Erickson said an “unauthorized person” gained access to the Los Angeles affiliate’s network between Oct. 9 and 17 and installed ransomware…
Waikato DHB cyberattack: Cancer hub out of action in chaotic aftermath
Natalie Akoori reports that the May ransomware attack by Vice Society threat actors on Waikato District Health Board impacted one of the country’s four regional cancer hubs. According to a contingency planning document put together in the aftermath of the attack and released by the DHB under the Official Information Act, at least 30 cancer…
UK watchdog’s punishment for Blackbaud, Easyjet, other big privacy lawbreakers was slap on the wrist in private
Gareth Corfield reports: Blackbaud was given a private slap on the wrist by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) after paying off criminals who stole users’ financial data from the cloud CRM biz’s servers. The astonishingly mild sanction was revealed in a Freedom-of-Information response after senior data protection specialist Jon Baines at London law firm Mishcon de Reya asked…
Quest’s ReproSource faces patient lawsuit over data breach impacting 350K patients
Jessica Davis reports: One month after notifying 350,000 patients of a potential theft of their protected health information, ReproSource Fertility Diagnostics has been sued by a patient over alleged security failings. ReproSource is a clinical laboratory for fertility specialists and a subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics. First disclosed Oct. 8, an attacker hacked into the ReproSource network in…
FBI seized $2.2M from affiliate of REvil, Gandcrab ransomware gangs
Lawrence Abrams reports: The FBI seized $2.2 million in August from a well-known REvil and GandCrab ransomware affiliate, according to court documents seen by BleepingComputer. In a complaint unsealed today, the FBI seized 39.89138522 bitcoins worth approximately $2.2 million from an Exodus wallet on August 3rd, 2021. Read more on BleepingComputer.