Steve Reilly reports: Cyber attackers successfully compromised the security of U.S. Department of Energy computer systems more than 150 times between 2010 and 2014, according to a review of federal records obtained by USA TODAY. Incident reports submitted by federal officials and contractors since late 2010 to the Energy Department’s Joint Cybersecurity Coordination Center shows a near-consistent…
Category: Of Note
Pastor outed on Ashley Madison commits suicide
CNN reports: John Gibson was a pastor and seminary professor. When he wasn’t teaching at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, one of his favorite pastimes was fixing cars. He was married with two children. His daughter, Callie, was teaching in front of 250 college students when she got the call. Her father had killed himself….
San Diego-based Agent of Change notifying students that personal and sensitive information accessed by hackers
We End Violence LLC is notifying an unspecified number of students that their personal information may be in the hands of hackers after the Agent of Change web site was accessed by unauthorized individual(s). The compromised personal information includes gender identity, ethnicity, relationship status, sexual identity, and other personally identifiable information. Here is their notice:…
Hacker Who Helped Infect Million Computers Pleads Guilty
Erik Larson reports: A Latvian hacker pleaded guilty in New York to helping develop a virus that infected more than a million computers worldwide, tricking online banking customers into revealing passwords and other security information. Deniss Calovskis, 30, faces as long as two years in prison under a plea deal reached with U.S. prosecutors after being extradited…
How Encryption Can Help Protect Your Personal Information
Commissioner Terrell McSweeny of the FTC writes: High profile car hacks, large-scale breaches of intimate information, news of compromised household appliances — hardly a day passes without some revelation of the ways in which our increasing interconnectedness is introducing new vulnerabilities into our lives. Technology is advancing at a rapid clip, and so are breaches….
Even encrypted medical record databases leak information
Jeremy Kirk reports: A new study from Microsoft researchers warns that many types of databases used for electronic medical records are vulnerable to leaking information despite the use of encryption. The paper, due to be presented at the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security next month, shows how sensitive medical information on patients could be…