We have previously reported on the vicious ransomware Locky and how it victimized companies throughout 2016.
Although Locky quieted down in late 2016, according to researchers at Cisco Talos, Locky is perking up again in...more
New U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (U.S.-Cert) guidelines around incident reporting went into effect this week (April 1, 2017). The guidelines require all federal departments and agencies, state, local, tribal and...more
My newest hero in the fight against ransomware is Little Red Door Cancer Services of East Central Indiana (Little Red Door). I am sending a donation to it to celebrate its courage in the last few weeks.
Little Red Door...more
1/26/2017
/ Cancer ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Hackers ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Malware ,
PHI ,
Ransomware
On December 30, 2016, the Los Angeles Community College computer network was kidnapped by cyber criminals requesting a ransom for its return.
The ransomware encrypted the college’s entire network system, including...more
1/19/2017
/ Colleges ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Educational Institutions ,
Email ,
Hackers ,
Malware ,
Popular ,
Ransomware ,
Voicemail
A recent IBM study shows that ransomware increased 6,000 percent in 2016 over 2015. According to the report, ransomware was present in almost 40 percent of all spam email messages....more
1/16/2017
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Hackers ,
Malware ,
Phishing Scams ,
Ransomware ,
Spam
The No More Ransom Project, a coalition of security companies and law enforcement, which was launched through a partnership with the European Cybercrime Centre, the National High Tech Crime Unit of the Netherlands police,...more
Although every year we lament about the significance of data breaches in the past year, 2016 was by far the worst. Data breaches were rampant, victimizing every industry and numbing consumers in the process. It was so bad...more
12/30/2016
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Hackers ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Phishing Scams ,
Popular ,
Tax Fraud ,
Tax Returns ,
W-2 ,
Yahoo!
We often hear from small businesses that they do not believe they can be a “target” of hackers, or that they are at risk of a cyber intrusion. This thought is naïve as small businesses are at risk of cyber intrusions, and due...more
It is hard to stay focused after election night.
Since the new administration has a dearth of plans, here are some tips for it to get a jumpstart on cybersecurity priorities....more
11/14/2016
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
EU-US Privacy Shield ,
Hackers ,
Presidential Elections ,
Presidential Nominations ,
Trump Administration
The maritime industry is not immune from cybersecurity risks. Navigation, product supplies and deliveries, radar systems and GPS systems are all digital and connected in today’s world, and can be subject to hacking and...more
The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) issued a private industry alert on August 18, 2016, to State Boards of Election to alert them of hackings into Board of Election websites. ...more
We have previously reported on hackings of automobiles. Not only can hackings obtain information about your driving habits, your GPS usage and location, the use of your cell phone, access to your contacts, and other...more
Following the issuance of Plymouth University Maritime Cyber Threats Research Group study on the risk of cyber threats, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) recently issued a warning to shipping and maritime companies to...more
Indiana Governor Mike Pence announced last week the formation of the Indiana Executive Council on Cybersecurity through an Executive Order. The Council, comprised of 23 members from public and private organizations, is...more
Uber recently announced that it has launched a bug bounty program that will pay white-hat hackers up to $10,000 for exposure of information that identifies “critical issues,” such as Social Security numbers, credit card...more
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has entered into a data sharing agreement with all of the major car manufacturers, which includes the requirement that the manufacturers develop best practices around...more
On January 7, 2016, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper announced the appointment of the leadership team that will head the new Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (Center), which was announced by...more
Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s) recently announced that is has issued a report entitled, “Cross-Sector-Global: cyber Risk of Growing Importance to Credit Analysis,” which outlines the threat of cyber-attacks and how they...more
After a long delay, with a vote of 74 to 21, the United States Senate passed the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) on October 27, 2015.
The bill has been touted as being controversial and is opposed by...more
11/2/2015
/ Chamber of Commerce ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Data-Sharing ,
Hackers ,
Information Sharing ,
Obama Administration ,
Pending Legislation ,
Personal Data ,
Popular ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Privacy Laws ,
Security and Privacy Controls
We continue to urge CEOs and boards of public companies (and private and not-for profits) to harken the call of getting a handle on cybersecurity risk to companies today. Not too soon, the New York Stock Exchange published a...more
10/23/2015
/ Best Practices ,
Board of Directors ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Security ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Nonprofits ,
NYSE ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Trade Secrets
The Department of Energy (DOE) has announced that it will invest $34M to the University of Arkansas and the University of Illinois for two projects designed to “improve and enhance” the protection of the U.S. electric grid,...more
We have reported before how CEOs, GCs and Boards are struggling with understanding and responding to cybersecurity risks within their organizations....more
The National Futures Association (NFA) recently approved new mandatory cybersecurity rules for members of the futures industry. Members of the NFA include exchange-traded futures, forex and over-the-counter swaps industries....more
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Defense Department announced this week that a Portland, OR based vendor has been selected to assist with breach notification and credit assistance for the almost 22 million...more
9/8/2015
/ Breach Notification Rule ,
Credit Monitoring ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Hackers ,
Identity Protection Services ,
Identity Theft ,
OPM ,
Personally Identifiable Information
Using the Maryland Consumer Protection Act, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh has announced that eye care retailer Visionworks, Inc. has agreed to pay the state of Maryland $100,000 and enhance its security measures...more
9/4/2015
/ Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Encryption ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC v Wyndham ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Wyndham