Ernesto writes: The uTorrent community forums have been hacked, exposing the private details of hundreds of thousands of users. The hackers were able to get their hands on the user database, and a warning issued by the software maker says that passwords should be considered compromised. With well over 150 million active users a month…
Washington marijuana applicants’ personal info subject to data breach
Ben Livingston reports: The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board is working to notify marijuana license applicants whose personal information was accidentally distributed by the agency in response to a public records request. The data may include social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, financial information, tax information and attorney-client privileged information. The LCB had redacted…
University of Calgary paid $20K in ransomware attack on faculty and staff email
CBC News reports: The University of Calgary paid a demanded $20,000 after a “ransomware” cyberattack on its computer systems. The university announced the ransom payment Tuesday, a week after the initial attack. “As part of efforts to maintain all options to address these systems issues, the university has paid a ransom totalling about $20,000 Cdn that was…
In wake of OPM breach, few sign up for protection services
Meredith Somers reports: Federal employees don’t think their personally identifiable information (PII) is safer than it was one year ago, but new numbers from the Office of Personnel Management show those employees are not taking advantage of the free protection offered in the wake of the massive cyber breach. About 21.5 million current and former federal…
House Energy And Commerce Committee Reviews Cybersecurity Practices At HHS
King & Spalding write: On May 25, 2016, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held a hearing to examine the Department of Health and Human Services’ (“HHS”) cybersecurity responsibilities. The hearing focused on legislation that would create a new office within HHS, the Office of the Chief Information Security Officer (“CISO”), consolidating information…
Info on international students and hosting families exposed in misconfigured database
It may be hard to resist naming a database after a favorite movie, but a database named “Coruscant” caught a researcher’s eye when the researcher was searching Shodan.io for exposed databases. And the rest, as they say, well… read on. The Cambridge Institute of International Education (CIIE) is a Boston-based educational consulting firm whose mission is to boost the…