The Georgia Supreme Court has breathed new life into a lawsuit by patients of Athens Orthopedic Clinic (AOC) whose data were stolen by thedarkoverlord in 2016. In a decision issued this week, the judges unanimously reversed the Court of Appeals’ dismissal of the lawsuit, vacated other parts of their ruling, and remanded the case. At…
Category: Of Note
Sherwood telemarketing company temporarily shuts down, blames cyber attack ransom
Shelby Rose reports on a ransomware incident in Arkansas: A Sherwood telemarketing agency has unexpectedly closed its doors, leaving over 300 employees without jobs a few days before Christmas. In a letter to employees, CEO of The Heritage Company, Sandra Franecke saying their servers were attacked by hackers, who demanded a ransom, which they paid…
Chinese hacker group caught bypassing 2FA
Catalin Cimpanu reports: Security researchers say they found evidence that a Chinese government-linked hacking group has been bypassing two-factor authentication (2FA) in a recent wave of attacks. The attacks have been attributed to a group the cyber-security industry is tracking as APT20, believed to operate on the behest of the Beijing government, Dutch cyber-security firm…
The Hacker Who Took Down a Country
Kit Chellel reports: The attack against Liberia began in October 2016. More than a half-million security cameras around the world tried to connect to a handful of servers used by Lonestar Cell MTN, a local mobile phone operator, and Lonestar’s network was overwhelmed. Internet access for its 1.5 million customers slowed to a crawl, then…
‘Russian pirate hacked 39 British universities’
Danny Fortson reports: A Russian internet pirate under investigation for potential ties to Russia’s intelligence services is alleged to have hacked the systems of 39 British universities. Alexandra Elbakyan is founder of Sci-Hub, a website that publishes millions of academic papers free that would otherwise be available only through subscriptions or one-off payments. Read more…
GozNym Gang Members Behind $100 Million Damages Sentenced
Sergiu Gatlan reports: Three members of a cybercrime group that used the GozNym banking Trojan to steal millions from U.S. businesses were sentenced today in parallel and multi-national prosecutions in Pittsburgh and Tbilisi, Georgia. The GozNym group members were charged for stealing “an estimated $100 million from more than 41 000 victims, primarily businesses and…