Tag Archive for: Disrupt

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

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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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ACLU’s Jennifer Stisa Granick and Google’s Maddie Stone talk security and surveillance at Disrupt • TechCrunch

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In a world filled with bad actors and snooping governments, surveillance is the one factor that affects almost every business across the globe. While companies like Apple, Signal and LastPass fight against surveillance using end-to-end encryption and by shunning mass data collection — you can’t hand over data you don’t have — too many companies, big and small, remain unaware and deeply vulnerable to prying eyes.

The fast-changing surveillance landscape is why we’re thrilled that Jennifer Stisa Granick, ACLU’s surveillance and cybersecurity counsel, and Maddie Stone, a security researcher on Google’s Project Zero team, will join us onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt on October 18–20 in San Francisco.

In a panel discussion called “Surveillance in Startup Land,” Granick and Stone will join TechCrunch security editor Zack Whittaker to present a crash course on the surveillance state to inform, educate and inspire early-stage founders to think about how to protect their users and customers from threats they haven’t even thought of yet.

We’ll discuss the emerging threats today, like how spyware makers, like NSO Group, Cytrox and Candiru, which let governments secretly wiretap phones in real time, and data brokers — the companies that trade in people’s personal information and granular location — represent an ever increasing threat to privacy and civil liberties.

Surveillance isn’t just in the United States — it’s everywhere — and change can happen quickly and unexpectedly. Case in point: Fear over healthcare data tracking and privacy became a reality after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark legal case that guaranteed a person’s constitutional right to abortion.

The decisions that founders and investors make today can and will affect millions tomorrow. We can’t wait to hear our panelists weigh in on how companies should think about what they’re building now — and in the future — so they don’t inadvertently become extensions of the surveillance state.

Jennifer Stisa Granick fights for civil liberties in an age of massive surveillance and powerful digital technology. As the surveillance and cybersecurity counsel…

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Luta Security and Emsisoft discuss how to fight ransomware at Disrupt – TechCrunch

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Ransomware is an exponentially growing global threat. Here are just a few examples from 2022: Costa Rica declared a national emergency after a $20 million ransomware attack; ransomware caused one of the biggest U.S. health data breaches; and ransomware topped CSO’s list of nine hot cybersecurity trends.

To hammer the point home, 14 of the 16 critical infrastructure sectors in the U.S. experienced ransomware attacks during 2021, according to a February 2022 report from the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency.

The urgent threat ransomware presents is why we’re excited to announce that Katie Moussouris, the founder and CEO at Luta Security, and Brett Callow, a threat analyst at Emsisoft, will join us onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt on October 18–20 in San Francisco.

In a conversation called “Winning the war on ransomware,” Moussouris and Callow will talk about why ransomware is escalating at such an alarming rate, define what “winning the war” looks like, and share what startup founders need to know — and what steps they can take — to protect their customers and their business.

A self-described computer hacker with more than 20 years of professional cybersecurity experience, Moussouris has a distinct perspective on security research, vulnerability disclosure, bug bounties and incident response. She serves in three advisory roles for the U.S. government as a member of the Cyber Safety Review Board, the Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board, and the Information Systems Technical Advisory Committee.

Moussouris worked with the U.S. Department of Defense where she led the launch of Hack the Pentagon, the government’s first bug bounty program. During her tenure with Microsoft, she worked on initiatives such as Microsoft’s bug bounty programs and Microsoft Vulnerability Research.

Moussouris serves as an advisor to the Center for Democracy and Technology, and she is also a cybersecurity fellow at New America and the National Security Institute.

A Vancouver Island–based threat analyst for cybersecurity company Emsisoft, Brett Callow lives life with an ear to the ground, monitoring emerging cyberthreat trends and…

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a16z’s Chris Dixon shares his insights on crypto at TechCrunch Disrupt – TechCrunch

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Love it, hate it or barely understand it, crypto continues to draw massive amounts of VC money, despite recent token turbulence casting a shadow over the still-nascent sector. Case in point, in May the venerable Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) closed a crypto megafund for a whopping $4.5 billion. 

A16z’s new fund comes hot on the heels of last year’s $2.2 billion Crypto Fund III. That’s a pile of newfangled faith from an investment firm founded back in 2009. All of this activity is why we’re thrilled to announce that Chris Dixon, the founder and managing partner at a16z Crypto, will join us onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt on October 18–20 in San Francisco.

At a time when crypto ecosystems, like Terra and its UST stablecoin, collapse and take billions of dollars down with them, plenty of investors and entrepreneurs remain skeptical. Yet others — like a16z — are doubling down on crypto, NFTs and other uncharted web3 products. 

You can bet we’ll ask Dixon about the current crypto market and why he remains bullish. We’re also curious to hear his take on Bill Gates’ opinion that NFTs represent an asset class based on the greater fool theory. We think this promises to be a rich and spicy conversation.

Chris Dixon is a general partner and has been at Andreessen Horowitz since 2012. He founded and leads a16z Crypto, which invests in web3 technologies through its dedicated funds.

Previously, Dixon co-founded two startups — SiteAdvisor and Hunch — serving as CEO at both. SiteAdvisor, an internet security company, was acquired by McAfee in 2006, while Hunch, a recommendation-tech company, was acquired by eBay in 2011.

Dixon also co-founded Founder Collective, a seed venture fund, and he has personal angel investments in various technology companies.

TechCrunch Disrupt takes place on October 18–20 in San Francisco. Buy your pass now and save up to $1,100. Student, government and nonprofit passes are available for just $295. Prices increase September 16.

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