Cybersecurity

The attention on TikTok underscores concerns in Congress that its parent, ByteDance Ltd., could share information with Chinese authorities. It’s also part of a broader bipartisan focus on ways the U.S. can counter China’s rising strategic influence.

A new report and toolkit aims to help K-12 schools and school districts identify funding and low-cost resources, identify high-priority risk reduction steps and stay informed about emerging cyber threats and risks.  

Six months after a Texas school district sold computers at auction containing the personal data of students and employees, the buyer is offering to sell back 513 computers for a retail price of about $99,579.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill aimed at banning any technology or platform from state devices that could threaten cybersecurity. TikTok was the impetus for the legislation.

Maryland’s inspector general partially faulted the Baltimore County school system for a cyber attack on its network in November 2020, because it had neglected to relocate database servers as advised by the state.

Hackers reportedly stole nearly 20GBs of data from police agency vendor ODIN Intelligence, including personal information on suspects and convicted sex offenders as well as plans for upcoming police raids.

The December cyber attack against third-party vendor Cott Systems knocked the records services offline for several weeks. Officials now report that the system is back online and that no data was lost in the incident.

Investigators say reconnaissance for the Sept. 3 cyber attack on Los Angeles Unified School District began as early as July 31. Hackers stole data on more than 500 people who worked for district contractors.

In a series of reports released at the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, this past week, the outlook for the global economy, and for cybersecurity worldwide, looked gloomy.

T-Mobile announced that it suffered a cyber attack that compromised 37 million customer accounts. The company says there is currently no evidence of breach or compromise to its systems or network.

The newly created Cyber Unit falls under the state’s Office of Homeland Security and will act as a centralized cybersecurity information and response center. The unit will be led by the state’s first Cyber Director Bobby Freeman.

The proposed center would provide public entities with cyber solutions, develop the cyber workforce and deliver training and awareness across sectors. Efforts to pass this measure in 2022 ran out of time; a new House bill revives the question.

In a unanimous vote this week, Cleveland County commissioners opted to ban TikTok from all county-owned devices. The move closely follows a Dec. 8 executive order issued by Gov. Kevin Stitt.

Funding from the Massachusetts Department of Education will help the Cybersecurity Center of Excellence at Springfield Union Station to provide professional opportunities and hands-on training to students.

The Cybersecurity Center of Excellence at Springfield Union Station is set to receive $3 million in federal funding. The money follows closely behind the $1.46 million state funding given to the center last year.

A newly released report from Connecticut-based IT vendor Datto suggests that only around three out of 100 small- to medium-size businesses hit with ransomware pay cyber criminals to recover their data.

Following Gov. Greg Abbott's order banning state employees from using TikTok on government-issued devices, more universities are taking action, citing fears that the Chinese government is harvesting customers' data.

The new offering gives providers a gap analysis to show what steps the companies need to take to become StateRAMP certified, and offers a numerical score providers can share with prospective government clients.