A former U.S. Army Sergeant whose last duty post was Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in western Washington pleaded guilty on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle to two federal felonies, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. Joseph Daniel Schmidt, 31, pleaded guilty to attempt to deliver national defense information and retention of national defense information. He faces up…
No, the 16 billion credentials leak is not a new data breach — a wake-up call about fake news (Updated)
Kudos to Lawrence Abrams and Bleeping Computer for calling out Cybernews’ misleading reporting. News broke today of a “mother of all breaches,” sparking wide media coverage filled with warnings and fear-mongering. However, it appears to be a compilation of previously leaked credentials stolen by infostealers, exposed in data breaches, and via credential stuffing attacks. To be…
Tonga’s health system hit by cyberattack (1)
Radio New Zealand reports: A team of Australian cyber experts flew to Tonga this week after the country’s National Health Information System was breached, leading to a demand for payment from the hackers. Talanoa O Tonga reports the Health Minister Dr ʻAna ʻAkauʻola saying the system has been shut down, and staff are handling data manually. Dr…
Russia Expert Falls Prey to Elite Hackers Disguised as US Officials
Kevin Poireault reports: Keir Giles, a British expert on Russian information operations, has been targeted by a sophisticated spear phishing attack using novel social engineering techniques. The writer and senior consulting fellow at the UK think tank Chatham House was lured into sending app-specific passwords to someone impersonating a US State Department employee. The Google…
Proposed class action settlement in In re Netgain Technology litigation
There’s an update to the Netgain ransomware attack incident that was first reported in 2020 and thereafter. CPT Group, Inc., announces a proposed class action settlement in In re Netgain Technology, LLC, Consumer Data Breach Litigation, Case No. 21-cv-1210 (SRN/LIB), United States District Court District of Minnesota. What is this about? Plaintiffs allege that the data incident occurred between September 2020 and November 2020 when an…
Qilin Offers “Call a lawyer” Button For Affiliates Attempting To Extort Ransoms From Victims Who Won’t Pay
Graham Cluley reports: Imagine for one moment that you are a cybercriminal. You have compromised an organisation’s network, you have stolen their data, you have encrypted their network, and you are now knee-deep in the ransomware negotiation. However, there’s a problem. Your target is stalling for time. Who can you, as the perpetrator of the…