Adam Bannister reports: New Zealand’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has observed a 15% year-on-year jump in cyber-attacks against the country’s “nationally significant” organizations. More than 400 such incidents were recorded between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021, up from 352 a year earlier, according to the NCSC’s latest annual threat report, published today (November…
Category: Of Note
Critical Infrastructure Protection: Education Should Take Additional Steps to Help Protect K-12 Schools from Cyber Threats
GAO-22-105024 Published: Oct 13, 2021. Publicly Released: Nov 12, 2021. Highlights from the government report: What GAO Found Federal guidance, such as the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (National Plan), specify the roles and responsibilities of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Secure…
When I emailed Overlake OB/GYN in July about a ransomware attack in 2020, I didn’t anticipate what would happen next.
In December, 2019, Overlake Medical Center & Clinics discovered that some employees had fallen for a phishing scheme. On February 7, 2020, they reported the incident to HHS as impacting 109,234 patients. As HHS subsequently summarized things: After the breach, the [Covered Entity] implemented additional administrative and technical safeguards and retrained its staff on the…
VA: Hundreds of parents, students, staff at risk of identity theft as personal records found tossed on floor at Old Pulaski Middle School
Kelsey Jean-Baptiste reports: Concerns about confidential records being found thrown on the ground of the Old Pulaski Middle School have many worried. Hundreds of students, teachers, and staff are now at risk of having their private information stolen. Pulaski School superintendent, Dr. Kevin Siers says the documents date back to the 1970s. In pictures given…
U.S. Accuses Russian of Money Laundering for Ryuk Ransomware Gang
Robert McMillan and Kevin Poulsen report: A Moscow entrepreneur was detained during a vacation abroad this month and is now facing extradition to the U.S. on charges that he helped a notorious Russian ransomware group launder payments. The case marks the first arrest in connection with the Ryuk ransomware group, which gained notoriety with a string…
Mom says her 11-year-old son hacked into his school’s virtual system and shut down classes
That feeling when you are told your child is some kind of evil genius/master criminal who has been sabotaging the school district’s network for months…. Jeroslyn Johnson reports: A mom recently went viral on TikTok after finally revealing all the trouble her 11-year-old son has been in due to his amazing tech skills. TikTok user @VictoriaPrettyMuch took to TikTok…