What the Hack? Podcast
What the Hack? Podcast
What the Hack? Podcast
What the Hack? Podcast

Data Security

The latest on data breaches and cybersecurity and data security by Adam K Levin.

Proud Boys
Democratic voters in four states have received threatening emails from the right-wing extremist group the Proud Boys. The emails tell recipients that the Proud Boys will “come after” them unless they switch party affiliation and cast their ballots for President Trump.  The U.S. government has concluded that the emails came from Iran. Voters in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Florida, and Alaska received messages...
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble has confirmed a data breach following a cyberattack that took many of their services offline.  The bookseller sent an email to customers notifying them that their personal information had been exposed, but that their financial information had not been compromised.  “While we do not know if any personal information was exposed as a result of the attack, we...
Norway hack
The Norwegian government has blamed Russia for a hacking campaign that targeted the email accounts of parliament members. The attack was deployed in August. “This is a very serious incident, affecting our most important democratic institution… Based on the information the Government has, it is our view that Russia is responsible for these activities,” said Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs...
trickbot
Microsoft has stepped up its efforts to disrupt the Trickbot malware botnet after receiving permission to take on its network infrastructure. Citing concerns of potential activity to disrupt the upcoming elections, Microsoft was granted approval from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to disable online servers connected to the botnet.  “During the investigation that underpinned our case,...
Emotet
The United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued an alert warning of an increase in Emotet malware-based phishing attacks on state and local agencies. “Since August, CISA and MS-ISAC have seen a significant increase in malicious cyber actors targeting state and local governments with Emotet phishing emails. This increase has rendered Emotet one of the most prevalent...
Facebook election security
Facebook has announced that it will place greater restrictions on advertisements for social and political issues ahead of the upcoming U.S. presidential election. The company announced the new restrictions on its corporate blog earlier this week, which prohibit the following content: Ads discouraging participation in the voting process. Ads seeking to delegitimize lawful voting practices as fraudulent, illegal, or corrupt. ...
Clark County
Ransomware operators have released the personal data of students in the Clark County School District in Nevada after officials refused to pay to have their files decrypted. The information leaked reportedly includes Social Security numbers, names, grades, addresses, and financial information. District officials have been thus far unable to verify the data. “CCSD is working diligently to determine the full nature...
Tyler Technologies
Tyler Technologies, a software and technology provider for U.S. federal, state, and local government agencies, announced that its internal systems were hacked last week.  The company, which provides election, information management and emergency management systems to over 15,000 government offices across the country, announced the hack after its website was taken offline Wednesday, September 23.  “Tyler Technologies is in the process...
2020 census
Distracted by a pandemic, historic social unrest, a general election, fire tornados and murder hornets, the Trump administration seems intent on handing Republicans a prize equal to if not greater than the parade of federal judges appointed over the last 44 months—namely, an undercount in the 2020 decennial population census. Legally mandated every ten years, the census determines where the...
Referee data breach
The personal information of 540,000 sports referees, league officials, and school representatives has been compromised following a ransomware attack targeting a software vendor for the athletics industry. ArbiterSports, a software provider for several sports leagues including the NCAA, announced that it had averted a ransomware attack in July 2020, but despite blocking the attempt to encrypt their systems, the company...