Ransomware Holds Hospital Hostage

Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center has been hit with ransomware, a type of malware which makes files inaccessable until the ransom is paid. In this case, the attackers are demanding $3.6 million to restore file access.   Although the hospital assures us that no patient data has been accessed or stolen, this attack demonstrates that stealing data is not the only problem that comes from cyberattacks. In this case, the operations of the hospital are being disrupted and patients are being impacted. TechTimes reports: [S]ome patients had to be transferred to other hospitals, as some of the medical equipment that need computers [...]

2017-01-07T17:35:09-05:00February 16th, 2016|Cybersecurity - General, Phishing, SP Guard|

FBI and Homeland Security Breached

Personal information about tens of thousands of FBI and Homeland Security employees appears to have been compromised. This report from The Telegraph relates some details: [The hacker] managed to download the details of about 30,000 US government employees from the FBI and Homeland Security, as well as 200GB of data. The data includes more sensitive information like credit card numbers and military emails, he said. How did he do it?  The Telegraph reports that the method was spearphishing.  Again.    

2016-02-09T09:24:24-05:00February 9th, 2016|Cybersecurity - General, SP Guard, spear phishing|

Nuclear Spearphisher Pleads Guilty

On February 2, 2016, the U.S. Justice Department announced that Charles Harvey Eccleston, a former employee of the the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), pleaded guilty to an attempted e-mail “spearphishing” attack that targeted dozens of Department of Energy (DOE) employee e-mail accounts. “Eccleston admitted that he attempted to compromise, exploit and damage U.S. government computer systems that contained sensitive nuclear weapon-related information with the intent of allowing foreign nations to gain access to that information or to damage essential systems,” said Assistant Attorney General Carlin. What technology was Eccleston using?  Spearphishing. Thinking he was dealing with foreign agents, Eccleston assembled lists of [...]

2017-01-07T17:35:09-05:00February 5th, 2016|Cybersecurity - General, SP Guard, spear phishing|