Fewer health-care organizations are paying ransoms, but the average payment has soared. Eric Geller reports: Hospitals, clinics and other health-care organizations are facing a barrage of cyberattacks and struggling to provide normal services amid computer outages and loss of important files, according to newly published research by Proofpoint, an email security firm. Nearly 90% of…
Steam upgrades security after games hijacked to spread malware
Imogen Donovan reports: Valve has been in contact with several game developers who were hit by hackers who used a vulnerability to hide malware in their games on Steam. The hackers’ intention was to play the malware off as an update to the installed game on players’ PCs, then infecting them when the “new build” was downloaded. Read…
The largest cyberattack of its kind recently happened. Here’s how.
Tim Starks writes: A trio of internet giants revealed on Tuesday that they had fought off an “unprecedented” distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack — used to disrupt the availability of systems like websites and services — that registered as the biggest on record, by far. Cloudflare, Google and Amazon Web Services (AWS) said the attack relied…
U.S. Navy Sailor Pleads Guilty to Transmitting Sensitive U.S. Military Information to Chinese Intelligence Officer
October 10, 2023 LOS ANGELES – A United States Navy service member pleaded guilty today to federal felony offenses and admitted he transmitted sensitive U.S. military information to an intelligence officer from the People’s Republic of China in exchange for bribery payments. Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, also known as Thomas Zhao, of Monterey Park, pleaded…
Philippine Statistics Authority cyberattack being probed
Ashley Erika O. Jose reports: The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) confirmed on Wednesday that it is now investigating another cyberattack, this time on the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Separately, the National Privacy Commission (NPC) said it received a breach notification from the PSA on Tuesday. Based on its initial assessment, the PSA…
Justice department wants to fight R5 million fine over ransomware attack in court
Myles Illidge reports: The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJ&CD) is taking the Information Regulator to court to appeal the R5 million fine the agency slapped it with after falling prey to a ransomware attack in 2021, TechCentral reports. Departmental spokesperson Steven Mahlangu reportedly said the court application was issued on 29 September 2023…