Content by Doug Olenick

University of Utah Pays Ransom to Avoid Data Disclosure

Doug Olenick  •  August 21, 2020

The University of Utah paid a $457,000 ransom to stop a hacker from disclosing data stolen in a July ransomware attack on the network of its College of Social and Behavioral Science.

Experian Breach in South Africa Affects 24 Million Consumers

Doug Olenick  •  August 20, 2020

A data breach affecting the South African branch of credit reporting company Experian exposed information on 24 million consumers and almost 800,000 businesses, according to the South African Banking Risk Information Center. But Experian says no consumer credit or financial information was exposed.

Final Report: More 2016 Russian Election Hacking Details

Doug Olenick  •  August 18, 2020

The Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday released its fifth and final report on Russia's attempts to influence the 2016 election, providing more details on how Russian hackers resided on Democratic National Commitee servers for months and citing shortcomings in the FBI's investigation.

Copycat Hacking Groups Launch DDoS Attacks

Doug Olenick  •  August 18, 2020

Copycats using well-known threat actor names, such as Fancy Bear and Armada Collective, are launching extortion campaigns tied to distributed denial-of-service attacks against financial institutions, according to Akamai's Security Intelligence Research Team.

Maze Reportedly Posts Exfiltrated Canon USA Data

Doug Olenick  •  August 12, 2020

The Maze ransomware group has posted on its darknet website some data it claims it stole during a recent attack against Canon USA, according to the security firm Emsisoft.

BEC Scam Costs Trading Firm Virtu Financial $6.9 Million

Doug Olenick  •  August 11, 2020

High-speed trading firm Virtu Financial says it lost $6.9 million in a business email compromise scam in May. The company is now suing its insurer for failure to cover the loss.

The Debate Over Trump 'Ban' of TikTok, WeChat

Doug Olenick  •  August 7, 2020

President Donald Trump's executive order banning the Chinese-owned TikTok and WeChat apps could prove to be unenforceable, some privacy and security specialists say. But some Republican lawmakers hailed the move, citing the national security risks posed by the apps.

Garmin Reportedly Paid a Ransom

Doug Olenick  •  August 5, 2020

Garmin, a fitness tracker and navigation device firm, apparently paid a ransom to recover from a July 23 security incident that encrypted several of its systems, according to two news reports as well as expert analysis. The company says it's still experiencing 'temporary limitations" on services.

Why Flash Player Removal Should Be a Priority

Doug Olenick  •  August 4, 2020

Adobe Flash Player, which has been patched hundreds of times during its lifetime to address vulnerabilities, will no longer be supported after Dec. 31, leaving an attack vector that can be exploited by malicious actors unless it's removed. That's why eliminating all instances of Flash Player is so urgent.

Twitter Hack: Suspects Left Easy Trail for Investigators

Doug Olenick  •  August 3, 2020

Suspects in the epic attack against Twitter were uncovered, in part, by the use of their real photo identification for cryptocurrency accounts they used to broker the sale of stolen usernames. The mistakes proved crucial to their identification, according to court documents.

3 Charged in Twitter Hack

Doug Olenick  •  July 31, 2020

A Florida teenager and a second unidentified individual were arrested and a third man was charged in connection with hacking 130 high-profile Twitter accounts to pull off a cryptocurrency scam,

Twitter Hackers Targeted Employees With Phone Phishing

Doug Olenick  •  July 31, 2020

The hackers who hijacked 130 high-profile Twitter accounts as part of a cryptocurrency scam earlier this month used a telephone-based spear-phishing attack to obtain employee credentials, the social media company says.

Garmin Confirms Hackers Encrypted Several Systems

Doug Olenick  •  July 27, 2020

Garmin has acknowledged that a hack attack that encrypted several of its systems led to outages that affected several of the company's fitness and aviation products along with knocking its homepage and customer service centers offline. As of Monday, several affected services were again operating.

Dutch Lawmaker's Twitter Account Among 36 With Data Exposed

Doug Olenick  •  July 23, 2020

A Dutch lawmaker's Twitter account is among 36 that had some personal data compromised earlier this month when hackers targeted 130 verified accounts and launched a cryptocurrency scam. The politician told Reuters his direct messages were accessed.

Phishing Attacks Dodge Email Security

Doug Olenick  •  July 22, 2020

A fresh round of phishing attacks is relying on using trusted services and a well-designed social engineering scheme to trick users into enabling malware to bypass an end point's security protocols, says Aaron Higbee of the security firm Cofense.