On November 15, ABC in Chicago reported that suburban school district Township High School District 211 experienced a security breach in which outgoing emails, phone calls, and text messages had been compromised over the weekend. Parents reported receiving offensive messages, some of which were sexual. On November 20, Patch reported that a teacher’s account in…
Category: U.S.
TX: Fraudsters who stole health information to fund spending spree plead guilty
KLTV reports: Two individuals have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obtain information from a protected computer in the Eastern District of Texas. Demetrius Cervantes, 46, of McKinney, and Amanda Lowry, 40, of Sherman, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obtain information from a protected computer on Dec. 3, 2020. Their co-conspirator, Lydia Henslee, 29, of Denison,…
TN: Personal information of some University of Memphis employees exposed in security breach
John Klyce reports: A security breach at the University of Memphis has caused private information of certain faculty and staff members to be compromised. In an email obtained by MBJ — dated Dec. 4 and sent to faculty and staff members — U of M CIO Robert Jackson said an individual had hacked into a university email account. While…
FireEye, a Top Cybersecurity Firm, Says It Was Hacked by a Nation-State
David E. Sanger and Nicole Perlroth report: For years, the cybersecurity firm FireEye has been the first call for government agencies and companies around the world who have been hacked by the most sophisticated attackers, or fear they might be. Now it looks like the hackers — in this case, evidence points to Russia’s intelligence agencies —…
GE puts default password in radiology devices, leaving healthcare networks exposed
Dan Goodin reports: Dozens of radiology products from GE Healthcare contain a critical vulnerability that threatens the networks of hospitals and other health providers that use the devices, officials from the US government and a private security firm said on Tuesday. The devices—used for CT scans, MRIs, X-Rays, mammograms, ultrasounds, and positron emission tomography—use a…
VA: Federal Aviation Administration Employee Arrested for Using Confidential Information for Attempted Extortion Scheme
Brian J. Booth, a 38-year-old Virginia resident, was arrested today and charged via criminal complaint with mail fraud for a scheme to use information stolen from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in an attempt to extort foreign officials and obtain payment for the information. According to Court records, Booth, an FAA employee, had access to…