Tag Archive for: Aimed

Better public sector cybersecurity aimed by Center for Internet Security, Google Cloud alliance


SiliconAngle reports that the Center for Internet Security and Google Cloud have entered into an alliance that seeks to strengthen the cybersecurity posture of the public sector amid increasing threats.

Under the alliance, CIS will be able to provide Google Cybersecurity Action Team services, including Google Threat Horizons reports and Mandiant cybersecurity tools, to help its members bolster cloud security and overall cybersecurity practices. Meanwhile, Google has also introduced partnerships with Health-ISAC and FS-ISAC, as well as unveiled the new Google Public Sector aimed at accelerating digital transformations at U.S. public sector entities.

“This partnership between CIS and Google is particularly exciting because it is bringing together two powerhouse perspectives on cybersecurity and applying them to the highly targeted and historically cyber-underserved community of U.S. state, local, tribal, and territorial government organizations. The cybersecurity needs of the public sector demand best-in-class, cost-effective solutions that include implementation and operational support and we look forward to how we can work together to support this community,” said CIS Executive Vice President of Sales and Business Services Gina Chapman.

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Microsoft, hospital group use court order to disrupt ransomware attacks aimed at health sector




CNN
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Microsoft used a federal court order to try to cut off cybercriminals’ access to a hacking tool that has been used in nearly 70 ransomware attacks on health organizations in more than 19 countries, the tech giant said Thursday.

It’s one of the biggest moves yet by tech firms and hospitals to combat ransomware attacks that have hobbled US health care providers for years by forcing ambulances to be diverted or chemotherapy appointments to be canceled.

The court order from the Eastern District of New York allows Microsoft to seize internet infrastructure that predominantly Russian-speaking hackers were using to communicate with infected computer networks in hospitals and other health care organizations in the US and around the world.

In addition to Microsoft, the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or H-ISAC, a cyberthreat-sharing group for big US health care providers, and US software firm Fortra sought the court order.

As the coronavirus pandemic strained health care systems around the US, cybercriminals continued to opportunistically lock up the computer networks of hospitals and demand a ransom.

An apparent cyberattack in February forced Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, which operates a 772-bed hospital in Florida, to send some emergency patients to other facilities.

Many hospitals “end up in (the hackers’) crosshairs because they are underfunded and don’t have appropriate security controls in place,” said Errol Weiss, H-ISAC’s chief security officer.

Weiss told CNN that he believes many hospitals are quietly paying ransoms to hackers because the hospitals “are supporting life-critical functions and they have to get back into operation as soon as possible.”

Fortra sells Cobalt Strike, a type of software that organizations use to test their cyberdefenses but that cybercriminals and state-backed hackers have often hijacked and used in their own hacking operations. The court order allows Microsoft, whose software was also targeted in the attacks, to cut off…

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SJ ‘Uptown Apartments’ Get Upscale Treatment Aimed at Young Professional Tenants


A Florida entrepreneur says he’s fallen in love with St. Joseph and Michigan’s Great Southwest!   As a result, Leonard Schulz is totally renovating an apartment complex in ‘Uptown St. Joe’, near the key intersection of Niles Avenue and Main Street.

Schulz tells us the ‘Uptown Apartments’, which have been quietly serving tenants at 1117 Niles Avenue since the 1970s, will soon take on an ‘upscale’ feel, catering to young professionals who have followed employment to St. Joseph or Benton Harbor, but are frustrated when they look for a nice apartment to call “home.”

There are eight one-bedroom apartments in the Uptown building.  Schulz describes them as “roomy, very adequate size-wise.”  However, he says, they of course need updating to appeal the the Millennials and Gen-Z tenants he’s targeting.  All the apartments will be essentially the same and rent in the $1200 per month range when they go on the market late Winter or early Spring.

Schulz says infrastructure is being updated throughout the complex, including internet, security cameras and locked storage areas for each unit.  Landscaping and outdoor lighting will follow in the Spring.  He promises there will be a “new fresh feel” to the entire project.  Schulz says there is off-street parking for each unit.

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When asked about how he came to acquire the Uptown Apartments, the Palm Beach Gardens, Florida resident smiles, chuckles and shares a story.

“I was looking for a house and ended up buying the apartments.  They were listed one day and I bought them by noon the next day.  I was the first one in a line that formed quickly.”

Schulz said the property seemed to jump out at him from the online listings.  So he quickly called his realtor, who went to the location and gave Schulz a quick “Facetime” walk-through.  He decided to make an offer and by the end of the day, the deal was done.

Schulz also bought a house on Highland Avenue along the St. Joseph River, where he expects to spend the warmer weather months, while maintaining his Florida residence in the Winter.  He says he never imagined himself as a “Michigander”, but developed a…

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Manassas 3rd grader, Leila, wins poster contest aimed to help kids learn cybersecurity – WJLA



Manassas 3rd grader, Leila, wins poster contest aimed to help kids learn cybersecurity  WJLA

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