Ransomware

After a cyber attack forced Freehold hospital administrators to halt new patient admissions, CentraState Medical Center officials were advising that patients seek care elsewhere due to the volume of patients in the emergency room.

A Massachusetts school district shut down its network Tuesday and canceled classes the following day, less than two weeks after nearby Bristol Community College had also been hit by a ransomware attack.

Vice Society, which is known for targeting schools with cyber attacks, says it leaked sensitive personal data of students and staff since Xavier University declined to meet its demands after a November ransomware attack.

The number of cyber attacks on schools has been ramping up, with schools facing off against ransomware, DDoS attacks and other threats. Luckily, a number of resources can help them bolster their defenses.

EC-Council University is making Certified Ethical Hacker and Certified Network Defender qualifications, as well as IT management training, part of a new online master’s degree program in computer science.

This past year will be remembered as another year of ransomware attacks, data breaches impacting critical infrastructure and, most of all, global cybersecurity impacts from the Russian war with Ukraine.

Gov. Charlie Baker has created the Cyber Incident Response Team in a Dec. 14 executive order. The group will be comprised of members from state government public safety and cybersecurity organizations.

The international ransomware group LockBit claims to have stolen 76 gigabytes of data from the California Department of Finance. The data is said to include confidential and financial documents, and other sensitive information.

The city of Dallas has released a mobile app to help residents navigate potential threats to their smartphones. The tool blocks phishing texts, guards against malicious app downloads and warns against connecting to unsafe networks.

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s annual data breach report shows the number of data breaches throughout 2022 at 4.5 million. The second largest after 2021 where 6.3 million breaches occurred.

Cyber incidents have hit state courts in Alaska, Georgia and Texas in recent years. Court leaders and CIOs at the NCSC eCourts conference this week shared what happened and what they learned from the experiences.

The potential vulnerabilities found in charging stations run the gamut, from skimming someone's credit card information, locking a charging station or a network of charging stations or hacking into the larger electrical grid.

An Oklahoma school district is providing identity theft protection services through IDX after an unauthorized party gained access to systems that contained Social Security and bank account numbers.

Global tensions are prompting state and local governments to deepen focus on their abilities to prevent, withstand and recover from cyber incidents, and many are particularly concerned about risks to sensitive data, according to a new report.

The cyber incident continues to disrupt services like accepting payments and issuing and processing permits. The county says it is looking for fixes and actively investigating the incident with the help of third-party specialists.

The Dallas Central Appraisal District website has been down for more than two weeks after being hit by a ransomware attack, and there’s still no word on when the site might be available to the public again.

College and university IT departments are busier than ever accommodating the shift to hybrid learning models, putting pressure on CISOs and their staff to strengthen cybersecurity without ballooning costs.

Iran-sponsored advanced persistent threat actors accessed a federal civilian executive branch agency via an unpatched Log4Shell vulnerability. CISA and the FBI warn organizations to check their systems for signs of compromise.