Content by Scott Ferguson

UCSF Med School Pays $1.1 Million Ransom

Scott Ferguson , Doug Olenick  •  June 29, 2020

The University of California San Francisco says it paid a $1.14 million ransom earlier this month to obtain decryptor keys to unlock several servers within its school of medicine that were struck with ransomware.

CIA Finds It Failed to Secure Its Own Systems

Scott Ferguson , Doug Olenick  •  June 16, 2020

An internal CIA report from 2017 - just released in heavily redacted form - found that the agency's failure to secure its own systems facilitated the massive "Vault 7" data breach that enabled classified information, including details of 35 CIA hacking tools, to be leaked to WikiLeaks.

Encryption Doesn't Have to Be Complicated

Scott Ferguson  •  June 16, 2020

Increasingly, organizations are turning to encryption to help solve multiple security issues, whether it's protecting data, managing risk or meeting government regulations. While managing all these encryption keys can be complex, Brad Beutlich of nCiper Security doesn't believe it has to be this way.

After Guilty Plea, DDoS Attacker Gets 5-Year Prison Term

Scott Ferguson  •  June 15, 2020

A federal judge has sentenced an Iranian-born, U.S. naturalized citizen to five years in prison for one in a series of DDoS attacks.

How Encryption Provides Security for a New Digital Era

Scott Ferguson  •  June 15, 2020

As digital transformation technologies such as containers and connected devices are changing business models, organizations are finding new ways to secure data with encryption. John Grimm of nCipher Security walks through how the use cases for encryption are keeping up with the times.

Former IT Administrator Sentenced in Insider Threat Case

Scott Ferguson  •  May 30, 2020

A former IT administrator for an Atlanta-based building products distribution company has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison after he sabotaged the firm by changing router passwords and damaging a critical command server. Overall, Charles E. Taylor caused more than $800,000 in damages.

Hacked Law Firm May Have Had Unpatched Pulse Secure VPN

Scott Ferguson  •  May 21, 2020

A recent ransomware attack that targeted a law firm that serves celebrities may have been facilitated by a Pulse Secure VPN server that was not properly patched and mitigated against a well-known vulnerability, some security experts say.

Investment Firm Hit by BEC Scam

Scott Ferguson  •  May 15, 2020

Fraudsters have conned Norfund, a private equity investment firm based in Oslo, Norway, out of more than $10 million in what the company calls an "advanced data breach." But the incident bears the hallmarks of a business email compromise scam.

US Says China-Linked Hackers Targeting COVID-19 Researchers

Scott Ferguson  •  May 13, 2020

Hacking groups linked to China's government are targeting research and healthcare facilities that are working on developing vaccines, testing procedures and treatments for COVID-19, the FBI and the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warn in an alert.

Microsoft Lists Critical Flaws That Need Urgent Patching

Scott Ferguson  •  May 13, 2020

Microsoft addressed vulnerabilities in a dozen of its software products in its Patch Tuesday update for May. And while none of the flaws are currently being exploited, several of the most critical flaws require immediate attention, the company says.

Pitney Bowes Battles Second Ransomware Attack

Scott Ferguson  •  May 11, 2020

After suffering a ransomware attack last October that left several systems inaccessible, mailing equipment manufacturer Pitney Bowes reports that it recently blocked another ransomware attack before any data was encrypted and says there's "no evidence of further unauthorized access to our IT systems."

Zoom's New York Settlement Spells Out Security Moves

Scott Ferguson  •  May 8, 2020

Zoom has reached a settlement with the New York state attorney general's office to provide better security and privacy controls for its videoconferencing platform. Meanwhile, the company announced it's acquiring a start-up encryption company.

GoDaddy Confirms Breach Affecting 28,000 Accounts: Report

Scott Ferguson  •  May 7, 2020

Web hosting giant GoDaddy confirms that a data breach has affected about 28,000 of its customers' web hosting accounts, according to a news report. The company has reset passwords and usernames for some customers as a precaution, although it says no data appears to have been altered.

CISA Urges Federal Agencies to Use Approved DNS Service

Scott Ferguson  •  May 1, 2020

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is reminding government agencies to continue using an approved DNS resolution service at a time when a large portion of the federal workforce has been shifted to home offices because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

How Telework Is Changing Cloud Security

Scott Ferguson  •  April 28, 2020

Because the COVID-19 pandemic had led to more employees working from home, cloud services have become indispensable, but the pressure is on organizations to ensure security, says Jim Reavis, CEO of the Cloud Security Alliance.