Joseph Cox reports: A hacker has broken into two consumer spyware companies—firms which sell malware to everyday people, sometimes with the explicit intent of illegally spying on spouses or lovers—and provided a large cache of data to Motherboard. The data includes gigabytes of customer records, apparent business information, and alleged intercepted messages of some people…
Category: Malware
PA: City of Allentown computer systems hit by virus that may require an expensive fix
Daniel Patrick Sheehan and Emily Opilo report: The City of Allentown has been hit by a serious computer virus that is affecting an array of systems, with some shut down as a precaution while a team of outside experts tries to fix the problem. City spokesman Mike Moore said the malware, which has the potential…
NC: County computers shut down by ransomware
Ben Coley reports: The Davidson County government’s ability to conduct business on computers has been stopped by a software virus known as ransomware, according to County Manager Zeb Hanner. Hanner said officials learned about the issue around 2 a.m. Friday. He noted that all the files are encrypted and that the hackers are asking for…
UK and US blame Russia for ‘malicious’ NotPetya cyber-attack
BBC reports: The Russian military was directly behind a “malicious” cyber-attack on Ukraine that spread globally last year, the US and Britain have said. The White House said June’s NotPetya ransomware attack caused billions of dollars in damage across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said Russia was “ripping up the…
NC: Coastal Cape Fear Eye Associates notifies patients after ransomware attack
On February 1, Coastal Cape Fear Eye Associates in North Carolina notified HHS of a hacking incident that impacted 925 patients. Unlike many other ransomware reports where there is no clear evidence of PHI acquisition or compromise, in this incident, there was evidence of actual compromise, although no evidence of exfiltration. Here is the entity’s…
One Plugin, Over 4,200 Victims – When Thousands of Government Websites Were Hijacked to Mine Monero
Rafia Shaikh reports: Thousands of websites around the world were targeted by cryptojackers over the weekend to mine Monero. The targets included websites run by the US and UK governments that were secretly hijacked by attackers to mine cryptocurrency using a compromised plugin, Browsealoud. Over 4,200 websites are in the victims list [link], including The City University of…