Cybersecurity News & Trends – 05-14-21
This week attackers once again turned their attention to local government, resulting in several cities and municipal police departments reporting breaches.
SonicWall in the News
Raab set to reveal aggressive cyber-attacks targeting 80 UK schools and Universities in March — UK Tech News
- Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab alerted the Cyber UK conference that 80 British schools and universities were hit by ransomware attacks in March, forcing them to delay reopening.
*Syndicated: Info Security Buzz
Working from home is making companies rethink IT spending. Here’s how it’s changing — TechRepublic
- Businesses are prioritizing their IT spending to focus on tech investments that support a ‘hybrid’ mix of working at home in the office, according to new research.
Deep Dive: Terry Greer-King, VP EMEA, SonicWall — Intelligent CISO
- Terry Greer-King, SonicWall VP EMEA, highlights SonicWall’s Boundless Security and how it uses automated threat detection and response to help organizations protect themselves.
*Syndicated: Intelligent CIO – EU, Intelligent CIO – Africa
We regret ‘creating problems’, say Colonial petroleum pipeline hackers — Financial Times
- The DarkSide ransomware group has stated it is apolitical and only wanted to make money, according to the Financial Times
Catch Of The Week: Ransomware Shuts Down U.S. Pipeline — Los Alomas Daily Post
- Colonial Pipeline, one of the top U.S. fuel pipeline operators, shut down its entire network after a ransomware attack, affecting the nearly half of the East Coast’s fuel supply.
The basics of backup: How to avoid disaster — Intelligent CISO
- As the amount of data in existence surges, business leaders must ensure they have the correct processes in place to manage it and avoid data loss.
Industry News
After Colonial Pipeline hack, lawmakers want more action on pipeline security — Cyberscoop
- A two-year-old federal pipeline initiative has shown promise, but more needs to be done, lawmakers say.
Despite Heightened Breach Fears, Incident Response Capabilities Lag — Dark Reading
- Many organizations remain unprepared to detect, respond to and contain a breach, a new survey shows.
Biden signs executive order to improve federal cybersecurity — The Hill
- President Biden signed an executive order aimed at improving federal cybersecurity on the heels of multiple major and damaging cyberattacks, including the one on the Colonial Pipeline.
Global cybersecurity leaders say they feel unprepared for attack: report — The Hill
- A majority of global CISOs surveyed said they feel their organizations are unprepared to face a cyberattack, despite many believing they will face an attack in the next year.
South Korea orders urgent review of energy infrastructure cybersecurity — The Register
- The review was spurred by the Colonial Pipeline outage, which stressed the fuel supply of the U.S. East Coast.
FBI, CISA publish alert on DarkSide ransomware — ZDNet
- The advisory deals with ransomware-as-a-service, thrust into the spotlight by the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack.
Ransomware crooks post cops’ psych evaluations after talks with DC police stall — Ars Technica
- A ransomware gang that hacked the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department has posted personnel records for almost two dozen officers, including psychological assessments and polygraph tests; driver’s license images; fingerprints; social security numbers; dates of birth; and residential, financial, and marriage histories.
Experts suggest French insurer AXA’s plan to shun ransomware payouts will set a precedent — Cyberscoop
- While some say they’re surprised it hasn’t happened sooner, others are wondering how long it will take for the rest of the industry to follow suit.
Adobe: Windows Users Hit by PDF Reader Zero-Day — Security Week
- Adobe on Tuesday warned that a gaping security hole in Adobe Reader, one of the most widely deployed software products, has been exploited in the wild in “limited attacks.”
City of Tulsa’s online services disrupted in ransomware incident — Bleeping Computer
- The city of Tulsa, Okla., has suffered a ransomware attack that forced the city to shut down its systems to prevent further spread.
City of Chicago Hit by Data Breach at Law Firm Jones Day — Security Week
- The city of Chicago on Friday said that employee emails were compromised in a Jones Day data breach involving Accellion’s FTA file sharing service.
Ransomware gangs get more aggressive against law enforcement — The Washington Times
- Criminal hackers are increasingly using brazen methods to increase pressure on law-enforcement agencies to pay ransoms, including leaking or threatening to leak highly sensitive and potentially life-threatening information.
The Colonial Pipeline Hack Is a New Extreme for Ransomware — Wired
- Profit-focused cybercriminal hackers have inflicted a disruption that military and intelligence agency hackers have never dared to, shutting down a pipeline that carries nearly half the fuel consumed on the East Coast of the United States.
DHS to hire 200 more cyber pros as Biden administration grapples with hacking threats — Cyberscoop
- It’s part of “the most significant hiring initiative” the department has ever undertaken, according to Alejandro Mayorkas.
In Case You Missed It
- Triple Threat: CRN’s 2021 Women of the Channel List Honors SonicWall Leaders — Lindsey Lockhart
- RSA Conference 2021 Spotlights the Resilience of the Cybersecurity Industry — Amber Wolff
- SonicWall Capture ATP Receives Perfect Score in ICSA Labs ATD Certification — Kayvon Sadeghi
- A Look Back: SonicWall Reflects on its 42nd CRN Award — Lindsey Lockhart
- Cybercrime on Campus: How Education Became Attackers’ Biggest Target — Amber Wolff
- Understanding the Difference Between Azure Firewall Services and SonicWall NSv — Stefan Brunner
