Mathew J. Schwartz reports: How might banning ransomware victims from paying a ransom to their attacker work in practice? As ransomware groups are causing massive damage and disruption and showing no signs of stopping, Ciaran Martin, the former head of Britain’s National Cyber Security Center, said “it’s time to figure out how to make a ransomware payments…
Category: Of Note
HHS Statement Regarding the Cyberattack on Change Healthcare
March 5. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is aware that Change Healthcare – a unit of UnitedHealth Group (UHG) – was impacted by a cybersecurity incident in late February. HHS recognizes the impact this attack has had on health care operations across the country. HHS’ first priority is to help coordinate…
Three recent breach disclosures remind us how seldom timely breach notification is enforced under HITECH
Three recent data breach disclosures involving patient data all exceeded HIPAA’s 60-day deadline to notify HHS and individuals. Yakima Valley Radiology A breach involving the Washington state radiology service was added to Karakurt’s leak site in November 2023 with a listing claiming — without proof — that they had acquired 9.31 GB of files with financial…
Vastaamo victims’ lawyer: Some took their own lives after patient record leak
YLE News, STT report: Some patients from the Vastaamo psychotherapy centre had died by suicide after their patient records were stolen and used in extorition attempts, according to a lawyer representing victims. Legal arguments in the trial of Aleksanteri Kivimäki, who is accused of stealing the data and extorting victims, are scheduled to conclude next week….
Message to the Congress on Preventing Access to Americans’ Bulk Sensitive Personal Data and United States Government-Related Data by Countries of Concern
TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES: Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby report that I have issued an Executive Order that expands the scope of the national emergency…
Fulton County, Security Experts Call LockBit’s Bluff
Brian Krebs reports: The ransomware group LockBit told officials with Fulton County, Ga. they could expect to see their internal documents published online this morning unless the county paid a ransom demand. LockBit removed Fulton County’s listing from its victim shaming website this morning, claiming the county had paid. But county officials said they did not pay, nor…