First: refresh your memory of a 2011 breach involving Accretive Health, a business associate of North Memorial Hospital. Then read HHS’s press release how that breach just cost North Memorial Hospital $1.55 million, and why: $1.55 million settlement underscores the importance of executing HIPAA business associate agreements North Memorial Health Care of Minnesota has agreed to pay…
Category: Of Note
Yet more phishing-based compromises involving W-2 tax statement data (Update-24)
(Note: the following is not a complete list… it’s just a list I started after the first few posts on this topic suggested that there would be a lot more. See the “phishing” category of this site for earlier entries this year.) Reports continue to come in to state attorneys general involving the successful spear phishing…
GhostShell, On the Record – The Extended Interview
“When it’s the middle of the night and you realise you’ve just been attacking and mapping entire cyber continents the only thought left in your head is “Who even cares anymore?” — Razvan Eugen Gheorghe, formerly known as “GhostShell” Over the past two weeks, DataBreaches.net and CyberWarNews.info had the opportunity to explore a number of topics…
BREAKING: FBI raids former sheriff’s deputy over hack, data dump on PBSOTalk.com (Update 1)
Last week, DataBreaches.net broke the story of how some south Florida agencies’ databases were still accessible to a Russian known online as “BadVolf” (or “BadWolf”). BadVolf, a self-identified friend of Mark Dougan, claims to have previously hacked and dumped thousands of confidential records of judges, police officers, and other law enforcement officials in retaliation for how the Palm…
Taking pity on law enforcement, Romanian hacker “GhostShell” doxes himself
What does a prolific Romanian hacker have to do to get arrested in Romania? And why would the 24-year old hacker known as GhostShell be willing to risk arrest by doxing himself? In a wide-ranging interview with DataBreaches.net and CyberWarNews.info, GhostShell discussed hacking, the scene, and the reasons for his unexpected decision to dox himself. This article by DataBreaches.net and…
Security Researchers Challenge Claims Data Breaches Increasing
Impressions on the rate of incidents based on headlines can be misleading. Because more media outlets now report on incidents doesn’t mean that the actual rate of incidents has increased over years, as Robert Lemos reports: In April 2015, the U.S. Department of Energy responded to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from USA Today by releasing…