Rob Barry and Dustin Volz report: The hackers seemed to be everywhere. In one of the largest-ever corporate espionage efforts, cyberattackers alleged to be working for China’s intelligence services stole volumes of intellectual property, security clearance details and other records from scores of companies over the past several years. They got access to systems with…
Category: Of Note
West Georgia Ambulance Company Pays $65,000 to Settle Allegations of Longstanding HIPAA Noncompliance
Are you surprised to see a settlement with HHS arising from an investigation that began when an entity reported a stolen laptop in 2013? Keep reading this notice from HHS to find an explanation: West Georgia Ambulance, Inc. (West Georgia), has agreed to pay $65,000 to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S….
Georgia Supreme Court resuscitates patient lawsuit against Athens Orthopedic Clinic
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…
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…