HHS OIG: Current Audit Program Is Not Pushing Entities Enough to Improve Cyber The Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General just finished a report making a series of suggestions to the Office for Civil Rights regarding the focus and implementation of HIPAA audits in the near future. The audit program has been dormant since 2020, but the HHS is restarting the program and toughening the scope of its audits. The HHS...

Advisory Warns of Iranian Threat Actors Iranian cyber actors are using brute force techniques like password spraying and multifactor authentication “push bombing” to attack global critical infrastructure sectors, according to a recent joint advisory. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency published a cybersecurity advisory with the FBI, NSA and cyber authorities in Canada and Australia warning of an increasing threat...

What do you do when a service or platform that your organization relies on goes down? The recent chaos caused by problems with CDK and Crowdstrike highlights the need to be mindful of risks caused by 3rd party vendors. It’s also a reminder as to why having a contingency plan in place before an outage or attack occurs is key to any organization’s response. Both issues stemmed from different root causes. In CDK’s case, a ransomware attack left...

Microsoft announced in December that Windows 10 will reach end of support in October 2025. Those who rely on the operating system will no longer receive essential security updates, bug fixes or technical support unless they migrate to Windows 11 and they sign up for escalating maintenance fees. The Extended Security Update program for devices running Windows 10 enables enterprises to continue receiving monthly security updates by paying $61 per...

Russian Cyber Sabotage Unit Sandworm Adopting Advanced Techniques Mandiant newly designated the Russian military intelligence hacking team known as Sandworm as APT44. Russia’s preeminent cyber sabotage unit presents “one of the widest and high severity cyber threats globally” due to its advanced capabilities and successes in disrupting global critical infrastructure sectors, a new report warns. Sandworm is the cyberwarfare...

As U.S. federal regulators fine-tune a strategy to push the healthcare sector into strengthening its cybersecurity posture, they are revisiting a HIPAA compliance audit program that’s been dormant since 2017. A new round of HIPAA audits for regulated entities is in the works. The Department of Health and Human Services recently published a notice saying that its Office for Civil Rights would be pulling the trigger soon on a study to assess...

GoldPickaxe Malware Can Record User’s Face, Gather Video Used in Deepfake Crimes A Chinese-speaking cybercrime group, identified as GoldFactory, is expanding the functionality and reach of its advanced banking Trojans. These Trojans are now collecting and stealing biometric data. Cybersecurity firm Group-IB recently released a report saying that GoldFactory has developed a new Trojan, dubbed GoldPickaxe, that comes in Android and iOS variants...

‘Essential’ and ‘Enhanced’ Best Practices Will Influence Upcoming Rule-Making The Department of Health and Human Services has released guidance that spells out voluntary cybersecurity performance goals for the healthcare sector. The new 13-page Cybersecurity Performance Goals document, recently released by HHS’ Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, details both essential goals “to outline...

We hope that you had a successful 2023. Looking back, 2023 saw a number of high-profile breaches as criminals and nation-state-supported hackers both created new methods of attacking and took advantage of existing vulnerabilities. Looking to 2024, here are a few things that we think are worth keeping an eye on moving forward. Phishing NOW WITH AI Phishing continues to be a persistent and lucrative attack vector for criminals and state-...

Beware of Phishing and Social Engineering Attacks Targeting Passwords, Vendor Warns Okta, the identity and authentication giant, said the attacker behind its September data breach stole more information than it first discovered. That includes details for all users of its primary customer support system. They first publicly confirmed the breach on Nov. 3, warning that attackers had gained access to its customer support management system and...