The worst lines ever spoken in thriller/horror movies are “I’ll be right back” and “What else could possibly go wrong?” In the first instance, the person speaking those words is probably not coming back, and the moment the second is said, something else goes horribly wrong.
In the “what else could possibly go wrong, cybersecurity edition” category, particularly in the aftermath of the torrents of coverage on the Equifax breach, it seems the cybercriminals didn’t all retire after the announcement – in fact, they managed to find their way into the Whole Foods and Sonic POS systems and steal cardholder data.
Netizen Blog and News
The Netizen team sharing expertise, insights and useful information in cybersecurity, compliance, and software assurance.
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The grocer, which Amazon.com bought in August, said it had been informed of unauthorized use of payment cards that had been used at in-store taprooms and restaurants.
Whole Foods Market says it’s investigating a potential hack or theft of customer payment card information at in-store taprooms and restaurants.
In a news release on Thursday, the Amazon.com-owned grocer said it had recently been informed about unauthorized use of payment cards that had been used at taprooms and table-service restaurants inside some stores. Those venues used a different point of sale system than the company’s primary checkout system, Whole Foods said. -
SANTA FE, N.M. — A cybersecurity breach at Equifax exposed sensitive personal data – including Social Security numbers, birth dates and addresses – potentially impacting 143 million Americans.
Hackers using the handle Dragonfly 2.0 reportedly targeted dozens of U.S. energy companies last spring and summer, gaining access to utility networks and, in some cases, control over grid operations.
And hijacked emails of a presidential candidate, along with more recent allegations of Russians hacking U.S. election systems last year, have roiled the political world.
How worried should we be about cyber attacks that have the potential to steal our identities and life savings, paralyze our power infrastructure and threaten our system of democracy? -
As we improve health care through connected technology, we also must protect it from the bad guys
Imagine this text message shows up in your e-mail: “Dear Sam, We have complete control of your hospital’s telemetry network. Please remit $15,000 in bitcoin to our offshore bank immediately or we will disable communication on this network.” Perhaps a bit far-fetched one might say. However, many in health care now must consider possibilities along these lines every day. With recent ransomware attacks, such as WannaCry and Petya, and with hospital clinical technology connected to IT systems more and more, the cybersecurity risks associated with medical devices grow each day. Petya reportedly infected numerous organizations, including some hospitals in the United States. So while connected medical devices provide many advantages to better coordinate patient care, which we now benefit from, those connections simultaneously expose us to new risks, which we now must manage.
With this increased exposure, experts now worry a hacker could connect remotely to a hospital network and the medical devices connected to it. We must all now understand better these risks so we may reduce their impact on our patients.“Stop Reacting. Start Preventing”
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“So, how do I get my son back?” The famous line from Tom Mullen, Mel Gibson’s character in the 1996 flick Ransom, paints a clear picture of what we are dealing with today regarding cyberwarfare. But instead of our children being abducted, it’s our data that’s being held captive.
Every 40 seconds a business falls victim to a ransomware attack. This billion-dollar industry is exploding, with attacks growing at a yearly rate of 350%. And by 2021, cybercrime will cost the world more than $6 trillion annually, according to Cybersecurity Ventures’ 2016 Cybercrime Report. The epidemic is sweeping across the globe, and just when we think we might be gaining ground on our digital adversaries, a new, more powerful and complex attack is launched.“Stop Reacting. Start Preventing”
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The threat of outside hackers is not the only reason to implement cybersecurity practices. Thoughtful cybersecurity practices can protect a business’s trade secrets from theft by departing employees and competitors. And while media attention focuses on cybersecurity breaches for large companies, they are not the only targets. A recent survey found that over 50 percent of small and medium-sized businesses had suffered cyberattacks or data breaches in the preceding 12 months. Thus, any business with confidential, valuable information should develop its cybersecurity practices with protection of its trade secrets in mind.
“Stop Reacting. Start Preventing”
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It’s a no-brainer that it’s more cost effective to hire an expert than to recover from the damage a data breach may cause.
Throughout history, whenever technology has advanced, there has always been a concurrent change in the way we live our lives and go about our business. For the most part, this co-evolution has been welcomed and embraced. These advancements have made work simpler, and communication and collaboration across networks seamless.
However, this transition to increased connectivity and quick, seamless, one-click solutions has also given rise to security issues when it comes to the private information held by the institutions leveraging those innovative solutions that optimize business operations.
“Stop Reacting. Start Preventing”
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A spear phishing attack over the summer led to a Canadian company paying $425,000 in Bitcoin ransom to free its computers. As we reported earlier, senior officials apparently fell for an old trick. Messages purported to be from a courier company that told recipients attachments were invoices for packages to be picked up, while the other messages asked them to open and print the attached document. That led to the insertion of malware.
As October Cyber Security Awareness Month starts the incident is another reminder that enterprise security is more than firewalls, anti-malware, behavior analytics and governance. It’s also about people.
”Perhaps security is getting better, in terms of how well things are configured,” says Michael Joyce, knowledge mobilization co-ordinator at the University of Montreal’s Serene-Risc information exchange, which is aimed at increasing public understanding of cyber risks and threats.“Stop Reacting. Start Preventing”
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Why healthcare organizations need a good strategy to find talent, or get left behind.
The recent WannaCry and NotPetya cyber attacks should remove all doubts that organizations are safe from collateral damage when international cybercrime and perhaps even nation-state actors decide to attack. As reports of the attack surfaced, healthcare executives and CIOs especially understood that risks were not contained within the walls of their facility or even their data center, as supply chain partners like Nuance were affected. This seriously disrupted untold numbers of healthcare organizations and increased board interest to act.
One thing is clear: These new threats require new investments not only in technology but process and people. Healthcare organizations need a good strategy to find talent or get left behind. That strategy starts with countering five misconceptions.“Stop Reacting. Start Preventing”
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The National Institute of Standards and Technology released a report in February identifying products available to enhance the electric grid’s cybersecurity. New technologies employed onto the grid are multiplying the number of access points for cyber threats.
An actual cyberattack on an electric grid occurred in December 2015 when Ukraine’s electricity was interrupted. A third party, widely suspected to be operating from Russia, conducted the attack — which resulted in 225,000 customers losing power.
It is only a matter of time until another country experiences a cyberattack that shuts down the power. If that occurs, devastating economic and security consequences may result since electricity is needed to operate pipelines, medical facilities, telecommunications, military bases and other critical infrastructure.
At present, consistent cybersecurity controls for the distribution system, where utilities deliver electricity to customers, are lacking. If a cyberattack on a utility successfully causes a power outage, a ripple effect that destabilizes electricity in large areas could occur, possibly damaging parts of the interconnected system. So it is easy to understand why research firm Zpryme estimates that U.S. utilities will spend $7.25 billion on grid cybersecurity by 2020.“Stop Reacting. Start Preventing”
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