Breach Guide
Learn the steps to take in the event of a data breach and stay current on the cyber threat landscape with the FTC’s Data Breach Resources, FBI’s Daily Digest Library and San Diego’s Cyber Incident Response Guide.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Data Breach Resources
Find out the steps to take as a business or consumer if you experience a data breach.
FBI Cyber Daily Digest Library
Stay current on the global threat landscape with the FBI’s daily circulation of published data breaches and articles.
VA data breach exposes personal information for 46,000 veterans
- The breach involved an online application that appeared to handle medical payments of some kind.
- Based on a preliminary review from VA’s Privacy Office, unauthorized users gained access to the application and changed financial information to divert payments from the department to community care health providers “using social engineering techniques and exploiting authentication protocols.”
- Veterans will receive more information by mail, which will include instructions on the steps they can take to protect their personal data.
- Veterans who don’t receive any alert from the department were not impacted by the recent data breach, VA said.
A Huge Chinese Data Breach Has Exposed Info Of 35,000 Aussies Including… Natalie Imbruglia?
- A massive database of 2.4 million people, including 35,000 Aussies, has been leaked from the Shenzhen company Zhenhua Data.
- The Chinese company, which is believed to have been used by China’s Ministry of State Security intelligence service, has been building up an entire database of highly detailed personal information on thousands of Aussies.
- There are exactly 35,558 Aussies on the database, with information on current and former prime ministers, important members of parliament, and quite a few billionaires.
COVID Pandemic Taught Small Business These Important Cyber Security Lessons
- The Covid-19 pandemic has changed working practices, perhaps indefinitely. Remote work is now a common part of the workplace.
- Cyberattacks can spread at nine times the rate of Covid-19.
- Since February 2020, there has been a 600% increase in phishing. 67% of businesses have experienced an IoT security incident. 55% of organizations plan to increase IT/OT alignment.
Controlling children’s passwords is a flagrant breach of their privacy
- Passwords, by definition, are secrets. We use them to identify ourselves to systems and gain authorized access to places that other people are denied access to.
- Up to 74 per cent of parents control their children’s passwords. In other words, parents exercise more than just the right to inspect the child’s assets: they reserve the right to impersonate their child.
- By taking control over the key elements of children’s identity at a formative time in their development, adults run the risk of impacting the fragile mechanisms their children need to begin understanding abstract concepts such as the right to privacy.
- When account access is shared, so is accountability. When schools set up student accounts, they use tools like Google’s G Suite, Classroom and Microsoft Active Directory that enable them to control dangerously large numbers of identities. In the event of data breaches, it may come as a surprise to administrators to discover that accountability practically always falls onto school boards and districts.
David Letterman's monologue - September 17, 2001
- Please watch...it doesn't matter if you're a fan of Letterman or Leno. Just watch. 🇺🇸
September 11 Attacks
- On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States.
- Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which triggered major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defined the presidency of George W. Bush.
9/11 FAQs
- Find answers to frequently asked questions about the 9/11 Memorial & Museum and the events of September 11, 2001.
Ransomware: Huge rise in attacks this year as cyber criminals hunt bigger pay days
- There's been a huge increase in the number of ransomware attacks over the course of 2020, with a seven-fold rise in campaigns compared with just last year alone, according to newly released data from cybersecurity researchers.
- In many cases, hackers are following through with threats to leak data they've stolen in the run-up to deploying the ransomware attack if the victim doesn't pay – something that might strike fear into future victims and encourage them to give into the extortion demands more quickly.
Iranian Hackers Launch Dharma Ransomware Attack on Global Firms
- Iranian cybercriminals have been perpetrating ransomware attacks on victims, using “Dharma Ransomware” and a combination of publicly available hacking tools. They have been mainly targeting companies headquartered in Russia, Japan, China, and India.
- The ransomware is infamously known as Crysis, which has been sold or distributed as a RaaS (ransomware-as-a-service) model since the year 2016.
- It appeared to researchers that criminals did not have a well-defined plan of action regarding what to do with the networks they had infiltrated. After establishing RDP connections, the hackers determined the tools to be used to move ahead with the attack.
- They took the help of Defender Control and Your Uninstaller to disable the pre-existent antivirus software present in the victim’s system.
Newcastle University students' data held to ransom by cyber criminals
- Newcastle University is being held to ransom by cyber criminals in an attack which has been disrupting IT systems since the beginning of the month.
- The cyber crime group behind the attack - known as DoppelPaymer - previously leaked documents online relating to Elon Musk's companies SpaceX and Tesla.
- Newcastle University did not respond to Sky News' enquiries about whether it would pay the ransom to protect staff and students' personal data from being leaked online.
San Diego Cyber Incident Response Guide
Learn more about San Diego’s region-wide cyber incident response guide and available local, state and federal resources.
