On November 26, DataBreaches.net reported that two more k-12 districts appeared to have been attacked by ransomware threat actors. One was Spring ISD in Houston, Texas, but DataBreaches.net did not name the other district at the time as they had not confirmed the breach. DataBreaches.net has now received a statement from the Gardiner Public Schools…
‘Apodis Pharma’ Leaked Over 1.7 TB of Confidential Data Online
Bill Toulas reports: The French digital supply chain management and software solutions provider ‘Apodis Pharma’ has misconfigured an ElasticSearch database for public access, essentially leaking over 1.7 TB of confidential business-related data. The client portfolio of ‘Apodis Pharma’ includes big pharmaceutical firms, so the particular data leak is considered a grave security event. Read more…
Federal agencies warn that hackers are targeting US think tanks
Maggie Miller reports: The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned Tuesday that major hacking groups are targeting U.S. think tanks. The agencies put out an alert noting that advanced persistent threat (APT) hacking groups were mainly targeting think tanks and individuals involved with international affairs or national security policies….
The painful calculus of ransomware payments
Dennis Fisher writes: The pandemic has disrupted, and in some cases destroyed, the business models of many companies, but it has been a boon for many ransomware gangs, which have taken the opportunity to hone their skills and expand their operations to include new forms of extortion, making an already serious threat into perhaps the…
North Korea-linked hackers targeted J&J, Novavax in hunt for COVID research
Raphael Satter and Jack Stubbs of Reuters report: Suspected North Korean hackers have recently tried to break into at least nine health organizations, including pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson and vaccine developer Novavax Inc, revealing a broader effort to target key players in the race to develop treatments for COVID-19. Four people who have investigated…
Russian hacking group uses Dropbox to store malware-stolen data
Sergiu Gatlan reports: Russian-backed hacking group Turla has used a previously undocumented malware toolset to deploy backdoors and steal sensitive documents in targeted cyber-espionage campaigns directed at high-profile targets such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of European Union countries. The previously unknown malware framework, named Crutch by its authors, was used in campaigns spanning…