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CDK and Crowdstrike: Are your vendors putting you at risk?
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 dealers that account for around 70% of the U.S. car market scrambling to do deals with nothing more...
read moreWindows 10 Is Nearing End of Support. Is Your Organization Prepared?
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 device for one year after the end-of-support date. “The price will double every consecutive...
read moreRussian Sandworm Hacking Team Expands Reach
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 division of Russia’s military intelligence service. It’s a “flexible instrument of power...
read moreHHS OCR Plans to Resurrect Random HIPAA Audits
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 its HIPAA compliance audit program, last used in 2017. HHS OCR officials on Wednesday confirmed that...
read moreBanking Trojan Harvests Facial Biometrics for AI Deepfakes
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 designed to harvest personal information, including biometric face profiles, from mobile devices....
read moreHHS Details New Cyber Performance Goals for Health Sector
‘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 minimum foundational practices” for cybersecurity performance and enhanced goals “to...
read more2023 Saw a Number of High-Profile Breaches
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- sanctioned hackers. The rise in generative AI makes it easier and cheaper to iterate messages and tactics in...
read moreOkta Says Hacker Stole Every Customer Support User’s Details
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 stolen sensitive information uploaded by 134 customers. An updated data breach notification released...
read moreFeds Levy First-Ever HIPAA Fine for Ransomware Data Breach
Massachusetts Management Firm to Pay $100,000, Monitor HIPAA Compliance for 3 Years A Massachusetts-based medical management firm holds the dubious honor of being the first ransomware victim fined for a data breach by the Department of Health and Human Services. Doctor Management Group agreed to a $100,000 financial settlement and three years of HIPAA compliance monitoring and corrective actions following an investigation into a 2019 ransomware breach affecting nearly 206,700 individuals. The Department of Health and Human Services’...
read morePhishing Accounts for More than Half of Cybercrime
Cybercrime is an ever-evolving field. Technology evolves to allow new tactics or new scales for criminals, as well as giving firms new tools to combat fraud and theft. Due to the fact that it’s ever-evolving, sometimes it can be difficult to see vast changes that occur over time. Over the last 5 years, there have been significant changes to the landscape of cybercrime. Not just in the increases in scale but also significant changes in the types of crime committed. This chart from Statista makes clear just how much has changed since 2017....
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