Why ransomware threat actors go after small school districts with few resources still puzzles me. The districts may be “low-hanging fruit” from a security perspective, but they generally do not have the resources to pay big ransom demands. So why target them? My puzzlement notwithstanding, a number of ransomware teams do attack k-12 districts. DoppelPaymer…
Category: U.S.
GenRx Pharmacy Breach Notice Shows How to Do It Right
This may be one of the best breach notifications I have ever read — for its plain language, clarity, and lack of attempt to spin. Not only did these folks respond promptly to an attack, but they had usable backups, stopped the attack quickly, and just…. handled this so well, it seems. Maybe they didn’t…
Seven states settle with CafePress over 2019 data breach
In August, 2019, this site noted that CafePress had been hacked in February. On October 1, 2019, I shared some of the notification I had received from them via email on September 30 because I found their notification confusing. Yesterday, state attorneys general announced a settlement with CafePress, stemming from the breach. This is the…
Florida launches investigation into hacking of its servers
Bobby Caina Calvan of AP reports: Florida officials acknowledged Friday that state servers appear to have been compromised by overseas hackers who gained entry by imbedding malicious code into networking software from a Texas-based software company, SolarWinds. Two Florida officials who have knowledge of the matter but spoke on condition of anonymity because they were…
Nuclear weapons agency breached amid massive cyber onslaught
Natasha Bertrand and Eric Wolff report: The Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, have evidence that hackers accessed their networks as part of an extensive espionage operation that has affected at least half a dozen federal agencies, officials directly familiar with the matter said. On Thursday, DOE…
NEXA Mortgage sued over broker’s alleged data theft
James Kleimann reports: In a lawsuit filed last week, a mortgage brokerage claimed that one of its former loan officers stole a database containing client names and information and brought it with him to a new job at NEXA Mortgage. Smart Mortgage, which operates in Illinois, Indiana, Colorado and Florida, filed suit against former senior loan…