Alyssa Foote reports: By this point, you’ve hopefully gotten the message that your personal data can end up exposed in all sorts of unexpected internet backwaters. But increased awareness hasn’t slowed the problem. In fact, it’s only grown bigger—and more confounding. Last week, security researchers Bob Diachenko and Vinny Troia discovered an unprotected, publicly accessible…
Category: Of Note
To protect the health and well-being of patients scheduled for surgery, Columbia Surgical Specialists paid ransom
DataBreaches.net has received a statement from Columbia Surgical Specialists in Spokane about the ransomware incident that they recently reported to HHS as impacting up to 400,000 patients. Subsequent and ongoing investigation suggests that the number affected may be substantially lower. According to the statement sent to this site, the practice became aware of the attack…
Marriott CEO apologizes for data breach, unsure if China responsible
David Shephardson reports: Marriott International Inc Chief Executive Arne Sorenson apologized on Thursday before a U.S. Senate panel for a massive data breach involving up to 383 million guests in its Starwood hotels reservation system and vowed to protect against future attacks. […] Committee Chairman Rob Portman noted that Starwood said it had discovered malware…
Hacker Who Leaked Soccer’s Secrets Loses Extradition Hearing
Tariq Panja reports: A computer hacker who for years published the innermost secrets of the global soccer industry — revelations that have shed light on questionable behavior by some of the sport’s most influential figures and top clubs — was told on Tuesday that he would be extradited to Portugal, where he faces charges linked…
Hacker group behind SingHealth data breach identified, targeted mainly Singapore firms
Eileen Yu reports: Hackers that compromised the data of 1.5 million SingHealth patients has been identified as a group that launched attacks against several businesses based in Singapore, including multinational companies with operations in the city-state. Dubbed Whitefly, the group has attacked organisations in healthcare, media, telecommunications, and engineering, and is likely part of a…
Update on Columbia Surgical Specialists of Spokane HIPAA incident affecting 400,000 patients
On February 18, 2019, Columbia Surgical Specialists of Spokane notified HHS of a breach impacting 400,000 patients. The incident was coded as a network/IT incident involving data on the network server. DataBreaches.net reached out to the entity for additional details concerning what we hypothesized was a ransomware attack. But despite two phone calls to the…