Bill Rankin reports: In the spring of 2016, a cyber thief calling himself the “Dark Overlord” hacked into the databases of a Clarke County medical clinic and emerged with the personal information of an estimated 200,000 patients. The Athens Orthopedic Clinic refused to pay the hacker’s ransom and advised current and former patients to set…
Suspect in Capital One data breach seeks release from jail
Gene Johnson of AP reports: Lawyers for a transgender woman charged in a massive data breach at Capital One want her released from federal custody, saying that for her to remain jailed with men is a serious threat to her mental health. Paige Thompson, of Seattle, was arrested last month after the FBI said she…
Cancer research organizations are now the focus of Chinese hacking groups
Charlie Osborne reports: Chinese advanced persistent threat (APT) groups are honing in on cancer research institutes in recent cyberattacks in order to steal their work, researchers say. Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide and claimed the lives of 9.6 million individuals in 2018. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that one in…
UK Police Investigations Still Affected by Ransomware Attack
Akshaya Asokan reports: The June ransomware attack against one of the largest forensic labs in the U.K. continues to delay police investigations in Britain while authorities await test results. At one point, authorities were confronted with a backlog of 20,000 forensic samples – including DNA and blood-samples – that were awaiting analysis for criminal cases,…
Adwind Spyware-as-a-Service Attacks Utility Grid Operators
Tara Seals reports: A phishing campaign targeting utility grid operators uses a PDF attachment to deliver spyware. A phishing campaign that spoofs a PDF attachment to deliver Adwind spyware has been taking aim at national grid utilities infrastructure. Adwind, a.k.a. JRAT or SockRat, is being used in a malware-as-a-service model in this campaign, researchers said….
Hospice of San Joaquin discloses ransomware attack
The Hospice of San Joaquin recently notified the California Attorney General’s Office that it had suffered a ransomware attack on July 2. The notification, signed by Rebecca Burnett, their CEO, states that: The data accessed may have included personal information such as full name, patient ID number, diagnoses, home address and other sensitive information. Though…