Yesterday, I noted a somewhat alarming report that misconfigured MongoDB installations are being wiped by a hacker who steals the databases and then holds them for ransom of .2 BTC (approximately $200 at yesterday’s rate or $220 at today’s rate). This latest threat was reported yesterday by Catalin Cimpanu of Bleeping Computer after an ethical hacker, Victor Gevers, disclosed the discovery he had made as part of Project 366. On…
Category: Of Note
This Crazy Ransomware Restores Your Files If You Read About Ransomware
Lee Mathews writes: We’ve seen some pretty dastardly ransomware pop up over the past couple of years. Popcorn Time decrypts your files for free if you pass the infection on to your friends. Jigsaw deletes some of your files every hour until you pay up. The Koolova ransomware put a whole new spin on things. Like Popcorn…
Ransomware Has Evolved, And Its Name Is Doxware
Chris Ensey writes that as entities try to defend themselves better against ransomware, criminals have come up with a new twist to make it more likely for their victims to pay up: Many companies have figured out that they can avoid paying these ransoms by wiping a system clean, restoring it with backup drives, and…
Hooray for transparency: Massachusetts puts data breach archive online
The state’s announcement: The Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation today announced the online public availability of its Data Breach Notification Archive. The Massachusetts Data Security Law (M.G.L. c.93H) requires any entity that keeps a Massachusetts resident’s personal information to notify affected residents, the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, and the Attorney…
MongoDB Databases Held Up for Ransom by Mysterious Attacker
Catalin Cimpanu reports: An attacker going by the name of Harak1r1 is hijacking unprotected MongoDB databases, stealing their content, and asking for a Bitcoin ransom to return the data. These attacks have been happening for more than a week and have hit servers all over the world. The first one to notice the attacks was…
Pager system hack resulted in HIPAA breach for Providence Health & Services
A while back, I was shown some live-streaming of a pager system that was being used in what appeared to be a hospital environment, as the pages included room numbers, patient medication information, etc. Unable to figure out what entity or organization was responsible for the system and the exposure as pages flew by rapidly,…