Category: Cyber Attack

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Digital Transformation – Cybersecurity Lessons from Recent Lawsuits

By Romaine Marshall, Jon Washburn and Jose Abarca on Posted in Cyber Attack, Privacy, Security
Digital transformation,[1] the process of leveraging technology, people and processes to innovate, requires an “all-in, ongoing commitment to improvement.”[2] But the main drivers of digital transformation – data and profits – don’t always mesh seamlessly. As shown by recent class actions filed against Blackbaud and Morgan Stanley, and a settlement with the New York Attorney General … Continue Reading

Digital Transformation – Regulator Issues $80 Million Penalty for Not Doing It Right

By Romaine Marshall, Jon Washburn and Jose Abarca on Posted in Announcements, Cyber Attack, Cyber Crime, Data Breach, Regulators, Security
Digital transformation refers to the process of leveraging technology, people and processes to innovate or stay competitive.  The main driver of this process is often data.  For a vivid illustration see Data Never Sleeps, an infographic released by Domo, a leading business analytics company. While executing digital transformation the right way can lead to great … Continue Reading

Is Your Incident Response Plan Ready for Novel Computer Viruses?

By Romaine Marshall and Jose Abarca on Posted in Cyber Attack, Phishing, Security
A “novel” virus is one that has not been previously identified, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.[1]  In 2000, like the COVID-19 virus that was officially named on February 11, 2020, the ILOVEYOU virus became a global pandemic for data systems.  Within days, millions of computers were infected as the virus compromised … Continue Reading

Soon, All Ransomware Attacks May Be Data Breaches

By Jon Washburn and Romaine Marshall on Posted in Cyber Attack, Cyber Crime, Data Breach, Privacy, Security
As this recent article illustrates, many ransomware operators are now collecting information from victims before encrypting their data, and then threatening to release what they’ve collected – or actually releasing some of it – to increase the chance they’ll get paid. There have been many cases already where at least a portion of data has … Continue Reading

Your Security Program Must Think Beyond Malware Protection

By Jon Washburn on Posted in Cyber Attack, Security
According to Crowdstrike’s most recent Global Threat Report, in 2019 they observed that malware-free attacks – attacks  where malicious files are not written to disk – outpaced malware attacks by 51% to 49%. In Malware-free attacks, the attackers leverage Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) that are less likely to be detected by traditional anti-malware solutions.  … Continue Reading

Trickbot and Emotet Financial Malware Now Attacking the Healthcare Industry

By Jon Washburn on Posted in Announcements, Cyber Attack, Cyber Crime, HIPAA, Security
In a recent Cybercrime Tactics and Techniques Report focusing on the health care industry, cybersecurity company Malwarebytes discovered a significant 82% spike in Trojan malware attacks on health care organizations in Q3 2019. Emotet and TrickBot, two especially sophisticated and dangerous forms of malware, were mostly responsible for this surge. Used primarily as ’banking Trojans” … Continue Reading

Cyber Risk Update for Construction Companies

By Tamara Boeck and Jon Washburn on Posted in Cyber Attack, Cyber Crime, Data Breach, Fraud, Privacy
Scammers are always seeking new ways to target victims for Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams, where they leverage email to try to convince you to give them credentials, send them confidential information like W2s, send them money by changing things like direct deposit instructions, or give any other data that can help them profit from … Continue Reading

Achieving Industry Standards

By Romaine Marshall on Posted in Cyber Attack, Cyber Crime, Data Breach, Privacy, Security
For Cybersecurity and Privacy, “What Are the Industry Standards? Are We Meeting Them?” These are questions the FTC Chairman, Joseph Simons, strongly suggested a CEO must ask before a data breach occurs to avoid the prospect of personal liability. These questions and statements by other commissioners emphasizing the FTC’s role – to bring about a … Continue Reading

HHS Issues Practical New Cybersecurity Guidance for Healthcare Businesses of all Sizes

By Dustin Berger and Sarah Bimber on Posted in Cyber Attack, Cyber Crime, Data Breach, ePrivacy, Phishing, Security
In late January, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Healthcare & Public Health Sector Coordinating Council issued a new cybersecurity guidance document for healthcare businesses of all sizes. The guidance document, entitled “Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices: Managing Threats and Protecting Patients,” available at https://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/planning/405d/Pages/hic-practices.aspx, provides concrete and practical guidance for addressing what the … Continue Reading

New tool released that may allow bad actors with almost any skill set to bypass many implementations of Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

By Jon Washburn on Posted in Cyber Attack, Cyber Crime, Phishing, Security, Software
Until recently, hackers have had limited success stealing Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) PIN and token information.  Unfortunately, a tool has been released that will now make it much easier for practically any bad actor to bypass many implementations of 2FA: https://www.zdnet.com/article/new-tool-automates-phishing-attacks-that-bypass-2fa/ This does not mean we should stop using Two-Factor Authentication (2FA). We should still use … Continue Reading

Anthem Pays OCR $16 Million in Record-Breaking HIPAA Data Breach Settlement

By Sarah Bimber on Posted in Cyber Attack, Data Breach, HIPAA, Regulators, Security
The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced in a press release this week that Anthem, Inc. (Anthem), one of the nation’s largest health benefit companies, has agreed to pay $16 million and take substantial corrective action to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules. This settlement … Continue Reading

When was the last time you looked at RDP access?

By Jon Washburn on Posted in Cyber Attack, Cyber Crime, Data Breach, Security
A presentation at Black Hat recently revealed that the creators of the “SamSam” ransomware have netted over $6M to date, attacking mostly medium-to-large public and private sector organizations. And they’re showing no signs of slowing down. In the most recent SamSam attacks, the attackers concentrated their efforts on brute-force hacking of weak passwords on devices accessible … Continue Reading

New threat targeting old medical imaging equipment

By Jon Washburn on Posted in Cyber Attack, Cyber Crime, HIPAA, Industrial Control Systems, Security
Health care providers and suppliers should be wary of the “Orangeworm” threat, an implementation of malware out in the wild that’s gathering information off of compromised medical equipment, especially old systems where file shares and Windows XP are still in use: https://www.zdnet.com/article/mysterious-cyber-worm-targets-medical-systems-found-on-x-ray-machines-and-mri-scanners/ While this group seems to be limiting their actions to reconnaissance and compromising … Continue Reading

How does your leadership remain aware of cyber security threats?

By Jon Washburn on Posted in Cyber Attack, Industrial Control Systems, Security, Software
Some notable stats showed up in the recently-released 2017 Veracode State of Software Security report: while “nearly a third (29 percent) of survey respondents indicated that they are actively pursuing digital transformation projects [and] … a further 29 percent stated that they are either planning for or considering digital transformation projects for the future,” there … Continue Reading

Cyber thieves will target anything they can hold for ransom

By Jon Washburn on Posted in Cyber Attack, Security
Back in August, the Associated Press ran this article profiling how a North Carolina manufacturer has been attacked twice by cyber criminals looking to install malware and cripple the “just-in-time” nature of their operations so that they’d be willing to pay a ransom to return to production. While this manufacturer avoided paying the ransom so far, … Continue Reading

Hacking vs. Phishing – and Why the Difference is Important for Cyber Insurance Coverage

By Jon Washburn on Posted in Cyber Attack, Insurance Coverage
As you work to finalize your cyber insurance riders or supplemental policies, it’s important to pay attention to the language around what is specifically covered. To ensure you’re receiving the coverage desired, the first step is to understand the difference between hacking and phishing, and how this is being applied to your policy, and to … Continue Reading
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