News - Data Connectors

One of the biggest challenges for those of us working in cyber security is not only how we keep pace with cyber criminals, but how we actively anticipate their next steps. Right now, this is more challenging than ever, as we see cyber criminals raising their game in response to better and more sophisticated security […]

Two hospitals in Ohio and West Virginia turned patients away due to a ransomware attack that led to a system failure. The hospitals could not process any emergency patient requests. Hence, they sent incoming patients to nearby hospitals. It is due to incidents like these that cyber threats are one of the top concerns for several industry […]

From an office in scenic Missoula, Montana, Sherri Davidoff and an all-female management team run a national consulting firm called LMG Security. MISSOULA, Montana — Americans are under attack, and the weapon is now your computer. Every 40 seconds, there is a cyber attack. The criminals are getting smarter, and their attacks are getting more […]

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Dec. 16, 2017. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)   The New York Federal Reserve is assisting Bangladesh’s central bank in a lawsuit filed Thursday to claw back $81 million in funds stolen during a 2016 North Korean hacking campaign. But they’re not going after Pyongyang directly. Instead, Bangladesh Bank is suing a […]

AI is already supporting businesses with tasks ranging from determining marketing strategies, to driverless cars, to providing personalized film and music recommendations. And its use is expected to grow even further in the coming years. In fact, IDC found that spending on cognitive and AI systems will reach $77.6 billion in 2022, more than three times […]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The North American Electric Reliability Corp. has imposed a $10 million fine — its largest ever­ for cybersecurity violations — on an unnamed power company identified in news reports as Duke Energy Corp. The corporation lists close to 130 violations against the unnamed company and its regional entities in the public version of […]

Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 29. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)   All four of the United States’ main global adversaries are investing heavily in offensive cyber capabilities and are more likely to use digital attacks to gain a strategic advantage, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told lawmakers Tuesday. […]

You may think that the worst you’ll risk by buying a bargain-bin smart bulb or security camera will be a bit of extra trouble setting it up or a lack of settings. But it’s not just while they’re plugged in that these slapdash gadgets are a security risk — even from the garbage can, they […]

Another day, another massive leak blamed on failing to password-protect a server. This time it’s sensitive financial data in an Elasticsearch database.   Thinkstock An ElasticSearch database misconfiguration exposed 51GB of sensitive financial data such as bank loans and mortgage documents. The server, which was not protected by a password, was discovered Jan. 10 by […]

After a technology employee, who no longer works for the city, was found with hacking tools on his computer, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh called for a review of the municipal government’s cybersecurity practices.   SHUTTERSTOCK (TNS) — Mayor Catherine Pugh ordered a security review after a technology staffer at Baltimore’s water agency gave himself special […]

Following on from my C64 hacking days, but in parallel to my BBS Hacking, this final part looks at my early hardware hacking and creation of a new class of meteorological research radar…Ever since that first C64 and through the x86 years, I’d been hacking away – mostly software; initially bypassing copy-protection, then game cracks and cheats, followed […]

© Getty Images   The digitization of health care promises to be transformative for patients and medical practitioners alike. New technologies and techniques — including big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence — are already helping to make health-care delivery more efficient, effective and less expensive. In spite of this vast potential, though, there exists a […]

Girl Scouts of America is now offering girls as young as five a badge in cyber-security. It’s part of a drive to get more girls involved in science, technology engineering and mathematics from a young age. An event in Silicon Valley gave scouts an opportunity to earn the first patch in the activity, with the […]

Missouri S&T faculty work with students on cyber security in a 2017 class. SAM O’KEEFE | MISSOURI S&T   A team at Missouri University of Science and Technology has received a $1 million grant to research better kinds of cyber security. They aren’t looking to stop outside hackers — they want to stop threats from […]

The best time to stop reusing old passwords was 10 years ago. The second best time is now.   Millions of emails and passwords were dumped in an 87GB file. James Martin/CNET In one of the largest public data breaches, a collection containing more than 87 gigabytes of personal information was leaked online. The data […]

The fine is the biggest imposed under the General Data Protection Regulation.   Google has been fined $57 million by a French regulator for not presenting transparent information about its data-gathering practices. Claudia Cruz/CNET Google has been fined 50 million euros (about $57 million) by a French regulator for not properly disclosing to users how their […]

With markets uncertain, many onlookers might think a recession is on the way, whether that’s most CFOs in the world or voters in the United States. But domestic CEOs don’t find heavy economic headwinds their biggest external business worry, according to a new survey by the Conference Board. Instead, it’s cybersecurity followed by new competitors. Risk of a recession is […]

A new reminder for those who are still holding on to the Windows 7 operating system—you have one year left until Microsoft ends support for its 9-year-old operating system. So it’s time for you to upgrade your OS and say goodbye to Windows 7, as its five years of extended support will end on January […]

SBPHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES Hundreds of German politicians who have had their private digital lives exposed online are victims of a hacking campaign with unclear motives. IN AN EXTENSIVE series of tweets throughout December, hackers leaked sensitive data from hundreds of Germanpoliticians, including members of the European parliament, German parliament, and regional state parliaments. The move reflects an insidious […]

Multiple researchers are linking the Ryuk ransomware that disrupted the operations of multiple U.S. newspapers in late 2018 to the Emotet and TrickBot trojans. In so doing, some analysts have now also shifted blame for the attack from North Korean actors to cybercriminals, possibly from Russia, while others maintain that attribution efforts are premature. Crowdstrike, FireEye, Kryptos […]

Servers at City Hall were rendered useless due to the outbreak. Officials based at the City of Del Rio, in Texas, were forced to abandon electronic services and switch to pen and paper after a ransomware attack effectively closed down City Hall servers. City representatives disclosed the cyberattack last week. The city was struck by […]

Computer hacking conceptGETTY   I’ve always been a loner, avoiding crowds as much as possible, but last Friday I found myself in the company of 500 million people. The breach of the personal accounts of Marriott and Starwood customers forced us to join the 34% of U.S. consumers who experienced a compromise of their personal information […]

Post-C64 Hacking (in Part 1 of Hacker History)… now on to Part 2: The BBS Years Late 1986 (a few months before I started my first non-newspaper delivery and non-family-business job – working at a local supermarket) I launched my first bulletin board system (BBS). I can’t remember the software that I was running at the […]

Curiosity is a wonderful thing; and the key ingredient to making a hacker. All the best hackers I know are not only deeply curious creatures but have a driving desire to share the knowledge they uncover. That curiosity and sharing underpins much of the hacker culture today – and is pretty core to people like […]

LOREN ELLIOTT/GETTY IMAGES   THE WEEK STARTED with bombshell Senate reports on the Russian campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election. We dived deep to explain how Russians used meme warfare to divide America, why Instagram was the Internet Research Agency’s go-to social media platform for spreading misinformation, and how Russians specifically targeted black Americans in an effort to exploit racial […]

The four part report was compiled for hospital executives as well as infosec pros, HHS said. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Friday released the four-volume voluntary guidance for healthcare organizations titled “Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices (HICP): Managing Threats and Protecting Patients.”   WHY IT MATTERS Mandated under the Cybersecurity Act of […]

More than 85% of companies have experienced a cyber breach in the past three years, according to an A.T. Kearny report. C-level executives rank cybersecurity as the no. 1 challenge they face for the third consecutive year, as more than 85% of companies report experiencing a breach in the past three years, according to a […]

A port for communicating with control systems in buildings leaves unpatched devices on those networks exposed to hackers, the FBI warned the private sector this week, calling attention to a longstanding issue in an often-overlooked segment of critical infrastructure. Major universities, state governments, and communications companies are among the organizations at risk of having their […]

  Around this time every year, my inbox fills with the same repetitive junk. “Would you consider putting [any random company] in your gift guide?”, “are you going to CES and if so can I pitch you [a gadget that literally won’t be around this time next year]?”, and, “do you want to cover [a […]

After years of targeted hacks, epic heists, and run of the mill data breaches you might think that institutions would be getting wise to the importance of strong cybersecurity. But it seems 2018 was not the year. Here’s WIRED’s look back at the biggest breaches, data exposures, ransomware attacks, state-sponsored campaigns, and general hacks of the year.  Stay safe […]

All Tribune Publishing newspapers, as well as US-printed newspapers formerly part of Tribune, were hit with a cyber attack involving Ryuk ransomware. Thinkstock Ryuk ransomware is believed to be the culprit behind printing and delivery issues for “all Tribune Publishing newspapers” — as well as newspapers that used to be part of Tribune Publishing. The malware […]

From Theranos to Telltale, here are some of the companies that didnt make it   There are few things in this world more difficult than launching a successful startup. It takes talent, know-how, money and a hell of a lot of good timing and luck. And even with all of those magical components in place, the […]

DON ARNOLD/GETTY IMAGES Taylor Swift reportedly used facial recognition at a recent concert in an attempt to scan for stalkers. Rolling Stone reported in a brief item this week that megastar Taylor Swift deployed a sneaky facial recognition camera at her May 18 Rose Bowl show. Hidden behind a display that showed short videos of rehearsals, […]

The sun sets behind the U.S. Capitol dome in Washington on Nov. 6. (James Lawler Duggan/Reuters)   Read the full report here at The Washington Post.   Here are four big takeaways: Start planning for retirement early Companies should begin planning from the moment they introduce a new product for when the product’s underlying technology […]

Dozens of companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds. They say it’s anonymous, but the data shows how personal it is.   The millions of dots on the map trace highways, side streets and bike trails — each one following the path of an anonymous cellphone user. One path tracks someone […]

Steganography via tweet images gave attackers a way to pass on malicious instructions to Trojan, researchers say.   A new and otherwise ordinary malware tool is garnering some attention from security researchers for its ability to retrieve malicious commands via code hidden in a couple of Twitter memes. The malware (TROJAN.MSIL.BERBOMTHUM.AA) targets Windows systems and, […]

U.S. companies are failing to protect their technology, former Trump adviser Rob Joyce says PHOTO: DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG NEWS NSA cybersecurity expert Rob Joyce. Mr. Joyce returned to the agency this year after serving as an advisor to the Trump administration.     NEW YORK—Are we winning the war to protect data? Not according to Rob […]

Chief information security officers are gaining more autonomy and oversight as companies shift cybersecurity away from the technology chief’s control. Many legacy cybersecurity teams are established in technology departments, where CISOs reported to the chief information officer. Today, by giving CISOs a broader view and better negotiating power across the organization, companies are acknowledging the […]

Lawsuit details a long list of security fails on MIE’s part. Attorneys general from twelve US states have joined together to file the first-ever joint cross-state HIPAA lawsuit against a healthcare provider that got hacked in the summer of 2015. The lawsuit, filed in an Indiana court on Monday, alleges that Medical Informatics Engineering and […]

Successful hacking campaigns used to be all about keeping under the radar. But, for some, making a big splash is now now more important than lurking in the shadows. Stealth and secrecy used to be the hallmarks of cyber espionage and cyberwarfare, with spies and hackers sneaking in and out of target networks without leaving a trace or […]

Saudi writer and critic Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Anadolu Agency/Getty Images   A Saudi dissident based in Montreal, Canada, filed a lawsuit this week against the NSO Group, an Israeli cyber security firm. The suit alleges the Saudi government used software from the company to spy on conversations […]

Hospital cybersecurity is a pressing problem with unique challenges and incalculable stakes. The healthcare industry’s accelerating adoption of sophisticated networks, connected devices and digital records has revolutionized clinical operations and patient care but has also left modern hospitals acutely vulnerable to cyber attack. Recent high-profile hacks have brought these mounting threats sharply into focus. However, despite […]

It may not be a nice topic to talk about, but it is essential that the world is aware of the terrifying cyber crime statistics in 2018. Unfortunately, with technology on the rise, there’s more room for cyber crime in 2018. According to the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2018, 43% of businesses were a victim of a […]

The technology holds a lot of promise for security, but there’s still a long way to go before it sees serious enterprise adoption. Blockchain is one of the biggest tech buzzwords of the last few years, and the technology is marketed as a cure for everything that ails you, including cybersecurity. In practice, at least […]

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Marriott said that for 327 million guests of its Starwood network, which includes Westin hotels like this one near San Francisco, the compromised data includes dates of birth and passport numbers.   Updated at 11:55 a.m. ET 11/30/18 In one of the largest cybersecurity breaches in history, Marriott International said Friday that […]

Shutterstock Like death and taxes, there are only two safe predictions about cybersecurity in 2018: There will be more spectacular data breaches and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will go into effect on May 25. But as the continuing digital transformation of our lives entails the ongoing digital transformation of crime, vandalism and warfare, 2018 […]

The ride-hailing service Uber has been fined the equivalent of nearly $1.2 million by British and Dutch authorities for failing to protect customers’ data during a cyberattack in 2016. Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office said Tuesday it fined the company 385,000 pounds ($491,000) and Dutch officials imposed a 600,000-euro ($679,000) fine for violating Dutch data protection laws. […]

EXPERTS AT THE HIMSS HEALTHCARE SECURITY FORUM SAID THE NEXT PHASE OF INFOSEC SHOULD BE TO SECURE THE HUMAN AND PUT SAFETY NETS IN PLACE TO PROTECT THEM. Theresa Payton, CEO of Fortalice Solutions, speaking at the HIMSS Healthcare Security Forum in Boston on Monday. BOSTON – THE TIME HAS COME TO MOVE BEYOND THE […]

ONLY A THIRD OF EMPLOYEES HAVE A SOUND UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR ROLE IN THEIR ORGANIZATIONS’ SECURITY CULTURE. Thinkstock According to newly released ISACA and CMMI Institute research on cybersecurity culture, only 34 percent of employees have a sound understanding of their role in their organizations’ security culture. While some may find this statistic startling, I see […]

AT BLUE ORIGIN, AMAZON’S SPACE-OBSESSED FOUNDER IS BUILDING ROCKETS, AND HE HOPES TO SOMEDAY BLAST HUMANITY INTO AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL FUTURE. IT’S JULY 17 AND THE TEMPERATURE IN THE WEST TEXAS DESERT IS MARCHING, PREDICTABLY, TOWARD 100 DEGREES. BUT THE AIR IS COOL INSIDE THE ONE-STORY PREFAB BUILDING WHERE JEFF BEZOS, WEARING A NORTH FACE HIKING SHIRT […]

Late last month Facebook announced its worst-ever security breach that allowed an unknown group of hackers to steal secret access tokens for millions of accounts by taking advantage of a flaw in the ‘View As’ feature. At the time of the initial disclosure, Facebook estimated that the number of users affected by the breach could have been […]

FOR YEARS, CHINA HAS SYSTEMATICALLY LOOTED AMERICAN TRADE SECRETS. HERE’S THE MESSY INSIDE STORY OF HOW DC GOT BEIJING TO CLEAN UP ITS ACT FOR A WHILE. KEVIN AND JULIA GARRATT HAD SPENT NEARLY ALL OF THEIR ADULT LIVES IN CHINA. A DEVOUT CHRISTIAN COUPLE IN THEIR FIFTIES WITH AN ENTREPRENEURIAL STREAK, THEY OPERATED A CAFÉ […]

MARLENE AWAAD/BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES FACEBOOK’S PRIVACY PROBLEMS severely escalated Friday when the social network disclosed that an unprecedented security issue, discovered September 25, impacted almost 50 million user accounts. Unlike the Cambridge Analyticascandal, in which a third-party company erroneously accessed data that a then-legitimate quiz app had siphoned up, this vulnerability allowed attackers to directly take over user accounts.The bugs […]

A cybersecurity researcher with Google Project Zero has released the details, and a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit for a high severity vulnerability that exists in Linux kernel since kernel version 3.16 through 4.18.8. Discovered by white hat hacker Jann Horn, the kernel vulnerability (CVE-2018-17182) is a cache invalidation bug in the Linux memory management subsystem that […]

Chinese cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a widespread, ongoing malware campaign that has already hijacked over 100,000 home routers and modified their DNS settings to hack users with malicious web pages—especially if they visit banking sites—and steal their login credentials. Dubbed GhostDNS, the campaign has many similarities with the infamous DNSChanger malwarethat works by changing DNS server settings […]

Facebook’s problems in Washington just got worse.  The social media giant announced on Friday that hackers stole information that could have allowed them to take over 50 million user accounts. The unidentified attackers were able to gain access to a range of profile information, including usernames, hometowns and genders, as my colleague Brian Fung reported. The company has […]

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., works on her cellphone on Capitol Hill. In a recent letter, Sen. Ron Wyden said some senators and Senate staff members were warned that their personal email accounts were targeted by foreign government hackers. Jacquelyn Martin/AP Google has warned some senators and Senate aides that their personal Google accounts have been […]

  © Getty States have successfully increased cybersecurity surrounding their voter registration databases but still struggle with adopting some security measures, according to a new report released Thursday. The Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR) found in a survey of 26 states between June and July of this year that the states had largely stepped up their […]

THE PENTAGON SAYS THAT THE US MILITARY MUST TAKE ON ATTACKS BEFORE THEY REACH ITS NETWORKS. The military must be prepared to disrupt hacking attacks before they reach US computer networks, according to a new strategic vision from the Pentagon. The Department of Defense (DoD) has updated its cyber strategy for the first time since […]