Data disposal – trash to treasure?
Sensitive data is so casually stored, even discarded, secondhand devices can still lead to exposure. In 2017, the National Association of Information Destruction (NAID) purchased a number of used electronics online for research purposes, and found plenty of personally identifiable information (PII) stored within. More recently, security company ESET bought 16 used routers, only to… Read More
Data breaches targeting all industries
Storing sensitive data is a critical component of countless organizational strategies. Companies whose primary task is to store such data ought to concern itself especially with protecting it from bad actors. This will be a lesson drilled in with data storage giant Western Digital, which recently announced a security incident in which data was exfiltrated… Read More
Patient data compromised outside of healthcare
When it comes to the protected health information (PHI) of patients, healthcare organizations aren’t the only ones on the hook. A New York law firm, Heidell, Pittoni, Murphy and Bach (HPMB), has just been hit with a $200,000 fine for failing to protect the electronic health records (EHR) of around 114,000 patients. Representing New York… Read More
Social engineering through sports sites
Just a couple of months ago I was contemplating creating an account for NBA.com to vote for their All-Star Game. Concerns over security of my data was one reason I abstained, and perhaps it was for good reason. The league recently sent out a data breach notification to fans that, although its own systems… Read More
Data Breaches – A Healthcare Crisis
Healthcare for IT involves protecting many types of data for various kinds of patients. A recent breach of the platform Cerebral, an online therapy and medication management system, has exposed the data of 3.1 million patients seeking care for their mental health. The verdict was that Cerebral had “disclosed certain information that may be regulated… Read More
Hackers Seek Riches: Protect Your Data
Data security is often a matter of national security. A cyber intrusion against the US Marshals Service demonstrates nothing less. Describing it as a major incident, the agency announced ransomware had targeted a system that subsequently had to be disconnected. “The affected system contains law enforcement sensitive information, including returns from legal process, administrative information,… Read More
Healthcare hackers and complex regulations
Despite the slight trend down over the past couple of years, the number of breaches targeting the healthcare industry is still higher than it was pre-pandemic. Hackers are carrying out more sophisticated, flexible breaches that also impact more individuals in total (an increase of 35% to reach 28 million in the second half of 2022). … Read More
Public eye on data security
Are you or your organization running VMWare’s ESXi software on virtual computers? If so, you may have been a target in a recent ransomware scheme. Italy’s National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN) announced the breach last week, in which hackers went after thousands of computer servers around the world. Most of these were in the US, France… Read More
Google Fi and T-Mobile’s Breaches
Last week’s big story was about the data breach of Google Fi, Google’s cell network provider. This is apparently part of the wider T-Mobile breach from last month, in which 37 million customers had their personal information stolen. Google Fi uses T-Mobile in part for its network connectivity, and “suspicious activity” of a third-party system… Read More
A flurry of hacker activity
A data breach of the marketing platform MailChimp has, in turn, led to one for sports betting firm FanDuel, and a warning to users about potential phishing scams as a result. Fortunately the total number of affected people was minor. This is nevertheless another instance of a third-party vendor falling for a social engineering scheme… Read More