A very unusual — and serious response to a threat to government cybersecurity. Thanks to Doug Levin @k12cybermap for pointing us to this press release: July 24 — Today, Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a state-wide Emergency Declaration in response to an ongoing cybersecurity incident that is affecting several local government agencies. The declaration makes…
Category: U.S.
New Haven Public Schools hit by ransomware attack
Brian Zahn reports: The New Haven Public School district was hit by a recent ransomware attack, an official confirmed Wednesday. NHPS COO Mike Pinto said the district had “restored all critical functions” to its computers by Wednesday morning, but would not divulge details on what functions or files, if any, were still compromised. Read more…
Maitland dentist office threatened with $20,000 ransomware
Amanda Martinez reports: A dentist office in Maitland is the latest victim of a ransomware attack in Seminole County. Dr. Carl Bilancione said all of his Quickbooks accounting files were encrypted and a pop-up screen instructed him to pay $10,000. Every 48 hours, the ransom would double, according to the message. “What the IT people ascertained is…
Health IT companies impacted by browser extension data leak: report
Heather Landi reports: Browser extensions, also known as add-ons or plug-ins, are commonly used by desktop Web surfers to do things ranging from blocking ads to remembering passwords to checking grammar. According to an independent security researcher, some extensions have been leaking and exposing browsing activity data, including patient names and health information from healthcare…
Yahoo’s $117 Million Data Breach Settlement Moves Forward
Wendy Davis reports: Yahoo’s $117.5 million settlement of massive data breaches occurring between 2012 and 2016 has been granted preliminary approval by a federal judge. The deal’s terms don’t “improperly grant preferential treatment to any individual or segment of the settlement class and fall within the range of possible approval as fair, reasonable, and adequate,”…
TN: Data breach of vendor puts personal info of TN high school students at risk
Carley Gordon reports: The Tennessee Higher Education Commission is currently investigating a possible data breach of a 3rd party vendor, that potentially has exposed personal information of thousands of public school students across Tennessee. The Commission is a state organization focused on assisting high school seniors in every element of accessing higher education. The Tennessee Higher…