Incidents involving malware or ransomware. In some cases, incidents called “ransomware” do not involve any locking but merely hack, exfiltrate, and attempt to extort.
Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a “Dear Colleague” letter addressing the cybersecurity incident impacting Change Healthcare, a unit of UnitedHealthcare Group (UHG), and many other health care entities. The cyberattack is disrupting health care and billing information operations nationwide and poses a direct threat to […]
The attack on United Healthcare’s Change Healthcare unit continues to cause major problems. Pharmacies are struggling to fill prescriptions, patients cannot get their medications, and payment processes for providers are impacted. The problems began February 21 after hackers, subsequently identified as the AlphV (BlackCat) group, gained access to UnitedHealth’s Change Healthcare unit. How they gained […]
DataBreaches.net reports: On February 16, BlackCat added loanDepot to their dark web leak site, but without any data as proof. At the time, they claimed that LoanDepot had shown up in the negotiation chat, and had offered $6 million for the data and a decryptor, but allegedly claimed they could offer more after the weekend. […]
HHS generally does not rush to issue any notice about a cyberattack, but today, they issued a quick one about Change Healthcare: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is aware that a cyber incident was identified in Optum Insight’s Change Healthcare’s technology systems on February 21. HHS is working closely with Optum Insight […]
Some ransomware gangs demand millions of dollars in ransom or even tens of millions of dollars. Even smaller businesses, non-profit organizations, and public school districts have increasingly become victims of cyberattacks because they are easy targets with poor defenses against attackers. Do you want your system unlocked? Do you want your data back or deleted […]
Law enforcement has been providing new information each day about the disruption to LockBit’s operations. In today’s news, there’s a reward offered for information on the perpetrators and affiliates. The reward offer was published by the U.S. Department of State: The Department of State is announcing reward offers totaling up to $15 million for information […]
The biggest cybercrime news of the week may be the takedown of LockBit3.0, but U.S. law enforcement also made news last week by announcing rewards for information leading to the identification or location of leaders of AlphV (BlackCat) or those who participate in it. Here is the press release from the U.S. Department of State: […]
When law enforcement takes down what has been described as the biggest and longest-running ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) criminal operation, it’s big news. Yesterday, LockBit3.0’s site was replaced with a seizure notice that indicated that LockBit and its infrastructure were now under law enforcement control. In a press release this morning, the National Crime Agency (NCA) provided […]
The Record reports: The U.S. and partners around the world ousted Russian government hackers from a network of more than 1,000 home and small business routers, FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Thursday. The law enforcement action, dubbed Operation Dying Ember, has not been previously announced. “Working with U.S. and worldwide law enforcement partners we […]
If you’re thinking of paying a ransom demand, think again.
For years now, law enforcement has been urging victims of ransomware attacks not to pay ransom. Their explanations are simple: (1) criminals do not keep their word to delete any data they have stolen from you, (2) criminals will not keep their word not to attack you again, and (3) paying criminals encourages them to […]