Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

June 2019

Second Florida City Struck by Ransomware to Pay Off Hackers

A second Florida city has opted to pay a ransom demand to hackers after they took control of the city's municipal computer systems. On Tuesday, June 25, Lake City's Mayor announced that the city would pay hackers $460,000 to regain control of its email and other servers that were seized over two weeks ago.

Hackers Infiltrated NASA's Network Using Raspberry Pi

A report released by the NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) claims hackers were able to infiltrate NASA's network using a vulnerable, unapproved Raspberry Pi in its April 2018 data breach. In the report, "Cybersecurity Management and Oversight at The Jet Propulsion Laboratory" officials claim that in the April attack, hackers stole over 500 MB of sensitive data.

66% of North American Homes Have Multiple IoT Devices

A new survey has found that North American homes have the highest density of Internet of Things (IoT) devices of any region in the world. Stanford University and Avast published a research paper titled All Things Considered which was based on the data from user-initiated networks scans of 83 million devices in 16 million homes. Home IoT refers to devices like smart TVs, printers, gaming consoles, and surveillance equipment.

Cyber-Security Of The Fridge: Assessing The Internet Of Things Threat

Are IoT (Internet of Things) devices security time bombs waiting to explode, or just benign and hugely-beneficial technological advances? As ever, the truth is somewhere in between, but there is a very simple test you can apply to assess which end of the spectrum a device sits at: ‘It depends’.

Florida City Pays $600K to Re-Gain Access to Systems After Ransomware Attack

The Florida city of Riviera Beach has agreed to pay cybercriminals who encrypted computer systems with ransomware $600,000 in order to regain access. In a unanimous vote made by the Riviera Beach City Council this week, the city announced that after consulting with hired security experts, they determined the best course of action is to pay off the hackers.

Data Breach May Have Exposed Nearly 12 Million Quest Diagnostics Patients

Quest Diagnostics said Monday that 11.9 million Quest Diagnostics patients may have had their personal, financial, and medical exposed in a data breach that happened through a contractor of a contractor. Quest outsources its billing collections to Optum360, which in subsequently used American Medical Collection Agency (AMCA) for such services, and were both notified by AMCA of a security incident on May 14.