The announcement from Europol we’ve been waiting for: This week, law enforcement and judicial authorities from eleven countries delivered a major blow to one of the most dangerous ransomware operations of recent years. This action, coordinated at international level by Europol and Eurojust, targeted the Ragnar Locker ransomware group. The group were responsible for numerous…
France frees the two biggest Spanish hackers
The following is from a machine translation of an article by Luis F. Duran that appeared at El Mundo on October 18: Last Thursday, French Justice released two Spanish hackers, aged 26 and 28, arrested last summer on charges of attacking 26 French companies from which they supposedly demanded million-dollar ransoms. After the investigation and the…
More lawsuits filed against Gaston College over data breach
Kara Fohner reports: Two more lawsuits filed against Gaston College allege that a data breach earlier this year exposed the personal information of more than 100,000 people. The lawsuits, filed by Ludenia Archie and Shaquasia Eppes, both former students, state that in the Feb. 21 cybersecurity incident, in which a hacker accessed sensitive files and…
HIPAA requires employers to sanction employees who violate HIPAA. Did you know that?
From HHS’s October cybersecurity newsletter: Last year, the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3) released a threat brief on the different types of social engineering1 that hackers use to gain access to healthcare information systems and data.2 The threat brief recommended several protective measures to combat social engineering, one of…
Police employee arrested for computer trespassing and violation of official secrecy
Politie reports an alleged insider breach in the police department itself: An employee of the Amsterdam police unit was arrested this week on suspicion of computer trespassing and violation of official secrecy. The investigation into the employee is conducted by the Safety, Integrity and Complaints department (VIK) of the Amsterdam unit under the direction of…
Another small firm suffers a serious ransomware attack: Cadre Services gets mauled by AlphV
There are some data leaks that make you shake your head and wonder about how a firm responded to a ransomware attack. This is one of them. Cadre Services (previously known as Premier Staffing) is a Wisconsin-based company providing employment and staffing services for office professionals. They have been in business since 1994. In a…