Collaborate Disseminate
In episode 145 for November 2nd 2020: Kevin Johnson joins me to discuss the US government’s attempt to prevent disinformation and rumors about the election, a new ransomware threat targeting US hospitals, and details about six Russian hackers that were… Continue reading Government Rumor Control, US Hospital Ransomware Threat, Russian Hackers Charged
Amid an uptick in attacks on healthcare orgs, malware families, Kegtap, Singlemalt and Winekey are being used to deliver the Ryuk ransomware to already strained systems. Continue reading Kegtap, Singlemalt, Winekey Malware Serve Up Ransomware to Hospitals
TrickBot’s margin for success just got a lot smaller. The Pentagon’s offensive hacking arm, Cyber Command, has carried out an operation to hinder the ability of TrickBot, one of the world’s largest botnets, from attacking American targets, according to one U.S. government official who spoke to CyberScoop on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter. Microsoft also has sought to disrupt the TrickBot botnet, according to Tom Burt, the company’s corporate vice president of customer security and trust. The two operations represented distinct efforts to interrupt a pernicious threat that U.S. government officials say could be used to launch ransomware attacks against IT systems that support the voting process ahead of Election Day. Such an attack against voter registration systems, for instance, could result in confusion, delays or other uncertainties when Americans cast their ballots. As a result of the Microsoft operation, the people behind the TrickBot botnet — […]
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Continue reading Cyber Command, Microsoft take action against TrickBot botnet before Election Day
The Ryuk ransomware is suspected to be the culprit. Continue reading Universal Health Services Ransomware Attack Impacts Hospitals Nationwide
Although many municipalities around the world have begun to ease up on stay-at-home orders, hackers are still running spearphishing and disinformation campaigns taking advantage of the pandemic. Adam Meyers, CrowdStrike’s Vice President of Intelligence, says nation-state and criminal spearphishing campaigns that leverage COVID-19 themed lures are still on the rise. “We’ve been seeing an increase of … behavior of social engineering where they’re impersonating things like the WHO, CDC, HHS, hospitals, healthcare [entities], and even insurance companies to entice people to click links or to click on on phishing [and] open files,” Meyers said Wednesday while speaking at the virtual CrowdStrike’s Fal.Con for Public Sector Conference, produced by FedScoop and CyberScoop. “This is an increasing problem and it demonstrates that the threat actors have found an unprecedented level of awareness around COVID-19…and they’re taking advantage of that and they’re capitalizing on it.” Hackers working for China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, […]
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Continue reading Hackers are still running coronavirus-related campaigns, CrowdStrike warns
A group of four people calling themselves “Pentaguard” were arrested in house raids. Continue reading Ransomware Gang Arrested for Spreading Locky to Hospitals
Romanian authorities said Friday they had disrupted a cybercriminal group that planned to conduct ransomware attacks on hospitals in the country. The hackers intended to pose as government officials and send malicious emails to public health institutions that purported to contain information on the coronavirus, according to the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), one of Romania’s top law enforcement agencies. Such ransomware attacks could disrupt the IT systems of hospitals, DIICOT said. But before that could happen, police and security officials said they searched the suspects’ properties in Romania and neighboring Moldova. All four suspects were arrested, ZDNet reported. The hackers planned to threaten hospitals to protest Romania’s state of emergency, which has restricted public gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Romanian news outlet Stirile Pro Tv. The threat of attacking hospitals would be a much more serious crime than the website defacements and other low-skill digital mischief usually […]
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Continue reading Romanian police bust hackers allegedly plotting ransomware attacks on hospitals
A class action lawsuit was filed earlier this week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico against two hospitals for what plaintiffs are calling “reckless and negligent violation of patient privacy rights” in light of alleged ransomware attacks that hit the hospitals last year. The alleged ransomware attacks, which took place in February last year at the Pavía Hospital Santurce and Pavía Hospital Hato Rey hospitals, affected 305,737 people, according to Department of Health and Human Services records. The plaintiffs, both former patients of the hospitals, allege patients’ personal identifying information, including full names, addresses, dates of birth, gender, financial information, and social security numbers, were exposed as a result of the attacks. These records also constitute protected health information as designated by HIPAA. “These patients reasonably expect the highest level of protection for their private identifiable information, when giving highly sensitive information such as their Social Security […]
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Our recommended healthcare password policies that complement and support HITRUST. Since its founding in 2007, HITRUST (Health Information Trust Alliance) champions programs that safeguard sensitive information and manage information risk for global org… Continue reading HITRUST & PASSWORDS: 7 Important Password Policies for HITRUST
Employee password security is a significant issue for healthcare providers. How can hospitals and other healthcare providers tackle password security concerns? The healthcare industry sector is increasingly the target of cybercriminals. As more provide… Continue reading Employee Password Security for Healthcare Providers