The public sector has faced a surge of cyber attacks in recent months, targeting state agencies, schools and local governments, severely affecting operations. Several recently released cyber industry reports show a steady or growing number of ransomware attacks so far in 2024. The examples below are just some of the cyber attacks against public sector organizations this past summer.

When discussing the consequences of a data breach for organizations, we usually consider three types of damage: financial, legal, and, somewhat more tenuously, reputational. But what about stock prices? One would assume that stock price—an indicator of a business’s overall health and investor confidence—would plummet after a breach, but is this really the case?

Imagine the worst-case scenario: a healthcare security leader receives a call in the dead of night, informing them that their network has been breached and all systems are down. Even a minor data breach in the healthcare sector can jeopardize patients’ personal health information (PHI), leading to identity theft, medical fraud, financial loss, or even the disruption of critical, life-saving medical services.

As a software developer, ensuring the security of your applications is paramount. A crucial part of this task involves managing secrets and employing a secrets detection tool. In this context, secrets refer to sensitive data such as API keys, database credentials, encryption keys, and other confidential information. Their unauthorized access or exposure can lead to catastrophic consequences, including data breaches and severe business losses.

In a significant development in the cybersecurity domain, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed a $2.95 million penalty against security camera vendor Verkada. The penalty stems from multiple security failures that allowed hackers to access live video feeds from 150,000 internet-connected cameras. These breaches exposed sensitive environments, including women's health clinics, psychiatric hospitals, prisons, and schools, highlighting the severe implications of inadequate security measures.

Telehealth and remote patient monitoring solutions enable healthcare providers to deliver care beyond traditional clinical settings. However, developing and deploying these digital healthcare solutions involves navigating complex challenges, particularly regarding data privacy and regulatory compliance. Ensuring adherence to HIPAA regulations while securely managing remote infrastructure adds layers of complexity for healthcare IT, security, and engineering teams.

Security teams have a wide range of tools in their arsenal to combat cybersecurity threats, but the expanding attack surface and the sheer number of tools can make their jobs more difficult to manage. As we enter this new era of cybersecurity, security and risk management, leaders are focused on validating the efficacy of their security investments, improving ROI, and taking a more programmatic approach in order to enhance their efficiency.

You can protect yourself from identity theft by safeguarding your Social Security number and other sensitive documents, regularly reviewing your credit reports, using a dark web monitoring tool and not oversharing online. Identity theft occurs when someone steals and uses your sensitive documents unbeknownst to you to gain money or access to your confidential information. Examples of sensitive documents include Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, bank account information and passport numbers.

A password is compromised when it’s leaked in a data breach and made available on the dark web, allowing others to gain unauthorized access to your online accounts. This risk not only arises from a data breach; your passwords can also be compromised in a phishing attack or if you don’t store your passwords securely. Dealing with multiple compromised passwords can be scary and stressful, but luckily there are steps you can take to protect your online accounts.