Zack Whittaker reports: A bipartisan group of senators have introduced legislation aimed at securing internet-connected smart devices, which were at the center of a massive cyberattack that brought down large swathes of the internet last year. The distributed denial-of-service in October lasted for less than a day, but it further fueled concerns about threats posed by…
Category: Of Note
No one taking responsibility for exposed medical records at Forest Hill
Barb Ickes reports: More than six weeks have passed since notice was given: Children were breaking into a vacant nursing home in East Moline and stealing people’s medical records. Several city officials, including police and the mayor, were notified immediately. The Illinois Attorney General was contacted. Ditto for the Illinois Department of Public Health and…
It’s Sunday, so….
Have you ever seen a visualization of the world’s biggest data breaches? If not, you can see it here. Hovering over incidents will lead you to additional information on the incident, and you can also use a variety of filters. I love that site, especially because that wonderful tool relies on DataBreaches.net as a source…
Ransomware: Canadian company pays $425,000
Luke Irwin writes: A Canadian organization has reportedly paid criminals $425,000 in bitcoin after its systems were crippled in a ransomware attack. The claim comes from Daniel Tobok, CEO of forensic firm Cytelligence, which he says is helping with the investigation. Tobok, speaking to IT World Canada, didn’t name the affected company, but said unpatched…
Researcher: Metadata the ‘most potent weapon’ against critical infrastructure security
Brad D. Williams reports: Critical infrastructure operators have long faced the formidable security challenges of zero-day vulnerabilities and advanced persistent threats (APTs), both of which were employed in some of the most prominent cyberattacks in the sectors to date. But one researcher is warning leaders in government and industry of an old threat that, fueled…
Rogue insiders can go undetected for a long time….
So how are you determining if your Business Associate or vendor has a rogue employee who may be stealing or misusing your patients’ protected health information? A notification from Anthem regarding an incident that affected more than 18,000 Medicare members in 21 states is a timely reminder that out of sight cannot mean out of mind…