William Ralston reminds us how devastating the Vastaamo breach and ransom incident has been: Jukka-Pekka Puro will never forget 2017. Facing the heartbreak of a divorce, Puro, a university lecturer in Turku, southwestern Finland, found himself tussling with depression. This spiralled into suicidal ideations when doctors told him he had aggressive kidney cancer, and no…
China Publishes Lists and Rules Related to Import and Export of Commercial Encryption
Eric Carlson, Yan Luo, Min He and Zhijing Yu of Covington & Burling write: On December 2, 2020, China’s Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”), State Cryptography Agency (“SCA”), and the General Administration of Customs (“Customs”) jointly issued three documents (here) related to import and export of commercial encryption items: List of Commercial Encryption Subject to Import…
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…
NY: Long Beach Computer Network Shut Down After Cyber Attack Found
Alex Costello reports: The City of Long Beach was the target of a cyber attack last week, which forced the city to shut down its computer network. The city publicly announced the attack on Friday after discovering it on Tuesday afternoon. According to the city, some of its technology employees saw unusual interactions in the…