While an uptick in cyber attacks on US hospitals is on trend for 2020, the FBI is warning that it has evidence of a coordinated criminal attack on the country's healthcare system.
Cyber Security
Cyber criminals, state-sponsored hackers and even the occasional disgruntled employee are constantly looking to gain unauthorized access for a variety of purposes: theft of money, cyber espionage, personal information for sale or for use in scams, and damage to critical infrastructure for just a few of the most common.
So how does an organization mitigate an entire world full of continual cyber attacks? Just as buildings have a number of necessary elements of physical security: access control, cameras, alarms and so on; there are similar key elements of cyber security that are absolutely vital for just about any modern business.
It starts with identifying and closing the most common doors that attackers use. For example, phishing attacks on employees are far and away the most common initial point of entry. The breach of even a low-level employee account can quickly turn into an escalation in access privileges and the ability to reach sensitive information. This is also true of smart devices, which are generally more poorly secured than computers and phones.
A recent breach of biometrics giant Suprema has exposed 28 million records of facial recognition and fingerprint data including unencrypted username-password combinations stored in plain text.
The McLaren Health Care data breach impacted nearly 2.2 million patient records. The company confirmed the intrusion and unauthorized data access occurred in July-August 2023 and was discovered in Oct 2023. The ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware group claimed responsibility for the apparent ransomware attack.
Vulnerability in Twitter's API in 2021 caused a data leak that exposed private user profile information of at least 5.4 million users. The information is now available for free via a dark web forum.
To stop a ransomware attack, you need the capability to detect threats and take action against them before they ever impact your business. Utilizing services such as extended detection and response (XDR) can provide round-the-clock monitoring from a team of cybersecurity experts.
BitMart crypto exchange was victimized with a total loss of about $196 million. BitMart has said that it will compensate victims of the crypto theft, but it is using its own internal estimate of $150 million in losses as a guideline.
Personal and financial information for at least 57,000 parties doing business with Bank of America was exposed in a third party data breach in late October of last year. Infosys McCamish Systems (IMS), an insurance process management services provider, is the third party that was compromised.
Enterprises, like people, have a lot to lose if their communication data falls into the wrong hands. Sensitive company information can be stolen and used for financial gain, competitive advantage, or even personal blackmail.
French digital automation and energy management giant Schneider Electric is investigating a data breach after a hacker claimed they stole dozens of gigabytes and demanded a hefty ransom in Baguettes, a classic popular French bread item.
Recent security breach at password manager LastPass does not appear to be an immediate threat to the encrypted vaults that customers use to store their passwords, but the hackers may have made off with source code and proprietary information.










