“Mother, May I?” UK entities may need permission to make ransom payments. Alexander Martin reports: Officials in Britain are set to propose a major overhaul of how the country responds to ransomware attacks by requiring all victims to report incidents to the government, and then obliging those victims to seek a license before making any…
Category: Of Note
Russian Access Broker “FlankerWWH” Indicted for Cybercrime Activities in New Jersey
A Russian citizen has been indicted for working as an “access broker” and selling unauthorized access to computer networks, including a victim company in New Jersey, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger, District of New Jersey. Evgeniy Doroshenko, 31, aka “Eugene Doroshenko”, aka “FlankerWWH,” aka “Flanker,” of Astrkhan, Russia, is charged by indictment with one count…
Fi: Hacker could have personal information of every schoolkid in Helsinki, City says
YLE News reports: The perpetrator of a major hacking of the City of Helsinki’s education division’s database could have accessed the personal information of all compulsory school aged children in the capital, as well as their parents or guardians, the city has revealed in a press release. City authorities announced last week that the data breach affected about…
FTC Finalizes Order with Blackbaud Related to Allegations the Firm’s Security Failures Led to Data Breach
The Federal Trade Commission has finalized an order against Blackbaud Inc. settling allegations that its lax security practices allowed a hacker to breach the company’s network and access the personal data of millions of consumers including Social Security and bank account numbers. In a complaint first announced in February 2024, the FTC charged that the South Carolina firm,…
HHS launches $50M security initiative to thwart hospital ransomware
Chad Van Alstin reports: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is launching a $50 million incentive program to encourage hospitals to improve their cybersecurity. Dubbed the Universal Patching and Remediation for Autonomous Defense—or UPGRADE—program, the initiative aims to speed up vulnerability detection and patch deployment through the creation of a platform that…
Swiss law enforcement actions appear linked to seizure of BreachForums
There have been a few developments likely related to the seizure of BreachForums. As a preview, recall that Kantonspolizei Zürich was one of the cooperating entities in the takedown and that the seizure notice had two avatars behind bars. One avatar was Baphomet, the administrator of the forum. The other was a default avatar that…