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…
Category: Of Note
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…
Atos, IT provider for Winter Olympics, hacked months before Opening Ceremony cyberattack
Chris Bing reports: Hackers armed with destructive malware appear to have compromised the main IT service provider for the Winter Olympic Games months before last week’s highly publicized cyberattack. Publicly available evidence analyzed by experts and reviewed by CyberScoop suggests that whoever deployed the Olympic Destroyer malware on Feb. 9 likely previously penetrated a series of computer systems around December…
12 years in prison for man who hacked Nasdaq, helped swipe 160M credit cards
Cyrus Farivar reports: Two Russian men convicted of their involvement in a massive hack of the Nasdaq stock exchange, Citibank, and other major companies have been given hefty sentences. The two men, Vladimir Drinkman and Dmitriy Smilianets, pleaded guilty in 2015. On Wednesday, Drinkman was sentenced to 144 months, while Smilianets was given 51 months. Read more…
Malaysian govt sued over data breach affecting millions
Malaysia’s internet regulators are being dragged to court over the massive data breach that involved more than 46 million mobile subscription accounts in the country. Fahmi Fadzil, communications director of the opposition People’s Justice Party, has filed a civil suit against the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and Nuemara (M) Sdn Bhd, a private…
UK: Scores of confidential files with personal details about abuse survivors were left in our office – and nobody seemed to care
Jennifer Williams reports: Scores of confidential social services files containing highly personal details about the lives of vulnerable young people – including abuse survivors – have been found abandoned in an empty Tameside office. The extraordinary data breach was discovered by the building’s landlord after drug service contractor Change, Grow, Live (CGL) left a fortnight…