Protenus has released its monthly Breach Barometer, and the statistics for November were something to be thankful for – even if they turn out to be just a brief break from the crush of breach reports we’ve seen every month. As Protenus reports, there were 28 incidents first disclosed during November. We were able to…
Category: Of Note
Romania arrests five suspected members of major ransomware gang
A press release from Europol earlier today: During the last week, Romanian authorities have arrested three individuals who are suspected of infecting computer systems by spreading the CTB-Locker (Curve-Tor-Bitcoin Locker) malware – a form of file-encrypting ransomware. Two other suspects from the same criminal group were arrested in Bucharest in a parallel ransomware investigation linked…
Encryption protected Golden Optometric patients’ EHR from CrySiS attack
It’s nice to read a notification where an entity had good defenses in place. Consider this notification from Golden Optometric in California: Early on the morning of November 6, 2017, the network server at Golden Optometric was infected with a variant of the “CrySiS” ransomware virus, which encrypted a limited number of files on its…
‘Lizard Squad’ hacker admits to conspiracy targeting ‘thousands’
Jon Seidel reports: A Maryland man with ties to international hacking groups with “thousands of victims” pleaded guilty in Chicago Tuesday to a conspiracy that may land him behind bars. But Zachary Buchta could also catch a big break if he continues to cooperate with federal prosecutors, according to his 20-page plea agreement. Buchta, 20,…
Federal Court’s Embrace Of FTC Data-Breach Settlements As ‘Common Law’ Treads On Due Process
Cory L. Andrews of Washington Legal Foundation has an OpEd that begins: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has developed a well-known penchant for using individually negotiated settlement agreements and consent decrees to announce for the first time what qualifies as “unfair” or “deceptive” conduct under the FTC Act. In the data-privacy arena, FTC views these…
How Life in 123 Million American Households Was Exposed Online
Dan O’Sullivan reports: In another blow to consumer privacy, the UpGuard Cyber Risk Team can now reveal that a cloud-based data repository containing data from Alteryx, a California-based data analytics firm, was left publicly exposed, revealing massive amounts of sensitive personal information for 123 million American households. Exposed within the repository are massive data sets…