Luke Irwin writes: A Canadian organization has reportedly paid criminals $425,000 in bitcoin after its systems were crippled in a ransomware attack. The claim comes from Daniel Tobok, CEO of forensic firm Cytelligence, which he says is helping with the investigation. Tobok, speaking to IT World Canada, didn’t name the affected company, but said unpatched…
Category: Malware
Teenage computer hacker jailed for Malware attacks on Microsoft and Sony has prison sentence reduced
There’s an update in the case of Adam Mudd, the U.K. teenager behind the profitable TitaniumStresser. Matthew Lennon reports: A teenage computer hacker who carried out attacks on Microsoft, Sony and Cambridge University from his bedroom has had his prison sentence reduced. West Herts College student Adam Mudd, now 20, committed the crimes from his bedroom at…
Nuance says majority of clients back online after Petya cyberattack
As Nuance continues to attempt to restore services following the Petya attack in June, it’s interesting to note their conclusion that this was not a reportable breach under HIPAA.
Plastic Surgery Associates of South Dakota notifies 10,200 after ransomware attack
From their web site, the practice’s notification. Note that some of the crucial data that might have enabled them to justify no need for notifications was lost/corrupted during the clean-up from the ransomware. Based on reports I’ve read over the past year, losing data during clean-up is not that rare, which should serve as a…
Ransomware victims have paid out more than $25 million, Google study finds
Russell Brandom reports: Ransomware victims have paid more than $25 million in ransoms over the last two years, according to a study presented today by researchers at Google, Chainalysis, UC San Diego, and the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. By following those payments through the blockchain and comparing them against known samples, researchers were able…
Women’s Health Group of Pennsylvania Notifies 300,000 Patients of Ransomware Attack
Mitch Blacher and David Chang report: A data breach at one of Pennsylvania’s largest health networks has sparked safety concerns and questions regarding why it took several months for patients to be notified. The Women’s Health Care Group of Pennsylvania, which is based in Oaks, Pennsylvania but has 45 offices serving women in Montgomery, Chester…