Tag Archive for: lawsuit

Hospital seeks dismissal of patient’s lawsuit over ransomware attack

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The parent company of UF Health-The Villages Hospital is seeking the dismissal of a patient’s lawsuit resulting from a ransomware attack that may have compromised her personal information.

Chrystal Holmes, identified as a Lake County resident, is suing The Villages Tri-County Medical Center, UF Health Central Florida and Leesburg Regional Medical Center Inc. in U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Florida.

The hospital in Leesburg and UF Health-The Villages Hospital were both paralyzed as a result of the ransomware attack launched this past May.

UF Health played down the ransomware attack but on July 30 notified the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that 700,981 people were affected by the ransomware attack, according to the lawsuit, which is seeking damages in excess of $5 million.

This past week, UF Health filed for a dismissal of Holmes’ lawsuit.

“Plaintiff did not file the lawsuit because, as a result of the Ransomware Attack, someone obtained and fraudulently used or even attempted to use her personal information. Nor did she file the lawsuit because the Ransomware Attack caused her to incur any out-of-pocket costs. She filed the lawsuit because she was notified of the Ransomware Attack; nothing more,” according to the motion to dismiss. “Under Florida law, notification of a Ransomware Attack does not allow an individual, like Plaintiff here, to file a lawsuit. More is required. For each of her claims—negligence, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty—Plaintiff must allege that she suffered a cognizable injury caused by the Ransomware Attack. She has not. For that reason alone, her claims must be dismissed.”

Holmes alleges that UF Health failed “to implement industry protocols and exercise reasonable care in protecting and safeguarding” patient information. She quotes the FBI in its warning that “prevention is the most effective defense against ransomware and it is critical to take precautions for protection.”

Like many other UF Health patients, Holmes received a letter in late July notifying her of the data breach.

She worries that her information will be used for “targeted marketing information” or sold on the…

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Internet Security Non-Profit Quad9 Files Appeal Against Copyright Lawsuit from Sony Music Germany

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ZURICH, Sept. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — The non-profit Swiss DNS provider Quad9, has filed an objection against an interim injunction (310 O 99/21) obtained by Sony Music Germany from the Hamburg Regional Court. This injunction requires Quad9 to implement network blocks that has the potential to set a precedent for other Internet organizations which are drawn into a copyright case in Germany as well as other EU nations.

Unlike many other DNS resolvers, Quad9’s privacy-friendly, free service avoids storing personal data about surfing behavior and protects against phishing and malware attacks. The interim injunction issued by the Hamburg Regional Court now means that Quad9 is forced to implement DNS blocking for a domain name named in the injunction which resolves to a website that is suspected of offering links to copyrighted material.

Quad9 is supported by German based Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte e.V. (GFF) and eco Association of the Internet Industry (eco.de) in its defense against Sony.

“If non-profit IT security projects like Quad9 must bear the costs of combating copyright infringements, they can no longer offer their services in Germany in a way that covers their costs. As a result, everyone’s IT security suffers,” explains GFF project coordinator Julia Reda.

“We view this case with Sony Music as a much bigger issue outside of Quad9’s mission to keep the Internet safe. This eventual final outcome of this ruling will set a precedent for European cybersecurity and policy,” said John Todd, Managing Director of Quad9. “This isn’t just about Quad9’s DNS recursive security capabilities; we believe it has a much broader application to a wide range of internet services, and service providers should understand the implications of either outcome of the case.”

“The German Bundestag abolished the German interferer liability for Internet access providers years ago to facilitate the operation of open WIFIs. The view of the Hamburg Regional Court, according to which DNS providers such as Quad9 cannot invoke this exemption from liability, must not be allowed to prevail under any circumstances,” says Reda.

“Since the announcement of the ruling in late June,…

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Polychain, A16z Face Unregistered Security Lawsuit Over Internet Computer Token Sale

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Dfinity’s highly-anticipated Internet Computer (CRYPTO: ICP) platform found itself amid a major controversy after a class-action lawsuit been filed in California describes it as an unregistered security.

What Happened: The complaint was filed on July 15 “on behalf of all investors who purchased Internet Computer Project tokens on or after May 10, 2021.”

The filing targets cryptocurrency hedge fund Polychain Capital, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and Dfinity’s founder Dominic Williams as defendants in the lawsuit.

Internet Computer attempts to combine the high-speed data processing power of the internet with the security and trustlessness of blockchain technology by employing a novel consensus system based on queries and calls instead of the more familiar Cardano’s (CRYPTO: ADA) proof-of-stake and Bitcoin’s (CRYPTO: BTC) proof-of-work. 

What’s ICP? With its claimed “unprecedented” capabilities, Internet Computer intends to compete not only with the likes of Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) but also with the cloud computing industry and most centralized services ranging from social media such as Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) to intermediaries such as Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE:UBER).

This new cryptocurrency launched in May and found enough hype by market participants that its network is now worth $4.6 billion — it is the 21st biggest cryptocurrency.

The Lawsuit: A recent report by crypto intelligence firm Arkham Intelligence suggests that Internet Computer’s 90% price crash in its first month is unusual for a project with heavy institutional investment and support.

While a spokesperson for the project dismissed the paper as “ludicrous” in an email sent to an industry news outlet Decrypt, the document purportedly identified $2 billion of ICP being transferred by “probable insider addresses” to cryptocurrency exchanges at times coinciding with sharp price decreases.

In other words, the document suggests a probable “dumping” by people involved with the project.

Read also: Dogecoin Campaign Leads To $5M Lawsuit For Coinbase Over Claims Of Deception

The lawsuit filed in California alleges that 469,213,710 ICP tokens were “created out of thin…

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Lawsuit Alleges Lax Cybersecurity Allowed Pipeline Hack

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(TNS) — Still reeling from a devastating Russian-based ransomware attack earlier this month, Colonial Pipeline is now the subject of a lawsuit alleging the Georgia-based company employed lax cybersecurity measures that left it vulnerable to such an attack.

The lawsuit was filed May 18 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, according to Bloomberg Law. Plaintiff Ramon Dickerson said the company breached its duty to employ industry security standards which resulted in system outages that harmed consumers by raising prices at the pump.

“As a result of the Defendant’s failure to properly secure the Colonial Pipeline’s critical infrastructure — leaving it subjected to potential ransomware attacks like the one that took place on May 7, 2021 — there have been catastrophic effects for consumers and other end-users of gasoline up and down the east coast,” Dickerson alleged.


On May 7, hackers locked up the company’s computer systems. The hackers didn’t take control of pipeline operations, but the Alpharetta-based company shut it down to prevent malware from affecting industrial control systems. President Joe Biden later said the attack was the work of Russian-based hackers, though he added the U.S. does not believe the Russian government was responsible.

Colonial Pipeline CEO Joseph Blount said he approved paying more than $4 million to the Russian-based hackers who cyber attacked his company because “it was the right thing to do for the country.”

In a May 19 interview published by The Wall Street Journal, Blount said he authorized the ransom payment of $4.4 million because executives were unsure how badly the cyber attack had breached its systems or how long it would take to bring the pipeline back.

“I know that’s a highly controversial decision,” Blount said. “I didn’t make it lightly. I will admit that I wasn’t comfortable seeing money go out the door to people like this. But it was the right thing to do for the country.”

The interview was the first time Blount or the company acknowledged paying the ransom. He also said it will take months and cost the company…

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