Government Technology reports: While school districts have a heightened awareness of cyber attacks and are increasingly improving their defense systems, most indicate that they still need dedicated personnel to better protect their data in addition to stronger collaboration from staff, according to an annual survey by the school software company Clever. Clever’s 27-page report, released this…
Mother of all breaches reveals 26 billion records: what we know so far
Vilius Petkauskas reports: The supermassive leak contains data from numerous previous breaches, comprising an astounding 12 terabytes of information, spanning over a mind-boggling 26 billion records. The leak, which contains LinkedIn, Twitter, Weibo, Tencent, and other platforms’ user data, is almost certainly the largest ever discovered. There are data leaks, and then there’s this. A supermassive…
$2.4 trillion securities platform owner hacked. EquiLend admits “unauthorised access”
Ed Targett reports: Financial technology company EquiLend – the owner of a NGT [Next Generation Trading], a platform that executes $2.4 trillion of securities transactions each month – has confirmed “unauthorized access to our systems” on January 22. The incident has disrupted some of its services, it confirmed. “We took immediate steps to secure our…
University of Twente Maps Decision-Making Process for Ransomware Victims
The UT investigated the decision-making process of victims who had to pay ransoms during ransomware attacks. UT researcher Tom Meurs and his colleagues analyzed 481 ransomware attacks, data from the Dutch police and a Dutch incident response party. Organizations with recoverable backups in particular were often better able to avoid paying ransoms. Data exfiltration led…
Feds Charge Alleged ‘TLO’ Underground Data Broker
Joseph Cox reports: This article was produced in collaboration with Court Watch, an independent outlet that unearths overlooked court records. Authorities charged a man from Baltimore on Monday with allegedly running a so-called TLO data service, a tool that makes it incredibly easy for hackers and other criminals to dox nearly anyone in America quickly and…
Bucks Co. emergency dispatch system down for days due to cyberattack
Hayden Mitman reports: Law enforcement officials in Bucks County are working to restore services to its computer-aided dispatch system, or CAD system, after a cyberattack on Sunday crippled the service. However, county officials said 9-1-1 services remain operational and first responders are relying on phone and radio communication as the county investigates the incident. In…