Tag: tribune | SpinSafe

Court delays mount 2 weeks into ransomware attack on Colorado public defender’s office – Greeley Tribune

February 25, 2024/in Internet Security

The Office of the Colorado State Public Defender remains crippled by a ransomware attack two weeks after the malware first forced the statewide agency to disable its computer systems — and the shutdown is raising growing concern across the state court system as delays mount.

Most public defenders have regained access to their computers, court filings and “some client files” since the ransomware was discovered Feb. 9, but “more work is necessary to return to normal operations,” the agency said in a statement Friday.

Officials with the public defender’s office refused to say how much money was demanded in the ransomware attack, in which criminals blocked access to some of the agency’s files and demanded payment to restore that access.

They also have not said whether the office will pay the ransom, when the agency expects to once again be fully operational, what kind of information was breached, and whether the personal information of attorneys, witnesses or victims of crime was exposed.

Public defenders this week still could not effectively represent their clients in court in most cases, said 18th Judicial District Attorney John Kellner, who serves as the elected prosecutor in Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties.

“It’s reminiscent of the COVID slowdowns a couple years ago,” he said. “We have public defenders asking for continuances or resetting trials on most matters.”

In the week after the attack, the statewide number of rescheduled hearings jumped by nearly 600 compared to the previous week, according to data provided by the Colorado Judicial Department. Hearings were rescheduled in about 3,300 cases across the state in the week before the attack, which increased to about 3,900 cases during the first full week that the public defender’s office was dealing with the ransomware — an 18% jump.

The longer the public defender’s office is non-operational, the more of a problem the repeated rescheduling becomes, said 16th Judicial District Chief Judge Mark MacDonnell.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to continue on this path for a long time,” he said. “It’s been two weeks and it’s getting to the point where if it’s not solved,…

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Crown Point schools still investigating possible cyber hack – Chicago Tribune

December 6, 2022/in Computer Security

Crown Point Community School Corp. officials say it’s still unclear if personal information was accessed in a possible network breach that forced the cancellation of classes on Nov. 28.

Superintendent Todd Terrill advised staff and student families to monitor financial statements and credit card reports for suspicious and unauthorized activity.

“As previously noted, these investigations can take weeks,” Terrill said in a message to staff and families.

“I know many of you have concerns and have waited patiently for more news. Our team shares those concerns. Although we have not yet determined if any sensitive or personal information is at risk as a result of this event, we are providing you with information about proactive measures you can take to protect your or your child’s information should you feel it is appropriate to do so.”

Terrill said those concerned could place a fraud alert on credit files at no cost for one-year or place a security freeze on credit files which prohibits a consumer reporting agency from releasing information in a credit card report without express authorization.

He said once the investigation is complete, the district will directly notify anyone whose information is affected.

Assistant Crown Point Police Chief Jim Janda said the network outage incident hasn’t been reported to police.

After missing one day, students returned to class Nov. 29 and most everyday activities have resumed.

Last month, officials suspected the network was compromised and brought in a cybersecurity firm to investigate and work with the district’s technology team to restore service.

A year ago, the Duneland School Corp. in Chesterton experienced a computer system hack that exposed personal employee data including Social Security numbers, birth dates and insurance plan information.

The Duneland cyber breach is being investigated by the FBI, a school official said.

The district has updated its system to include two-factor authentication for access to its private network and a phishing email program was added for all users.

Geofencing was added on firewall policies, preventing traffic from outside the U.S. It switched to encrypted backups and added other tools to protect the…

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AIIMS ransomware attack: Key patient data at risk of leak, sale on Dark Web, says experts : The Tribune India

November 27, 2022/in Internet Security

New Delhi, November 26

With the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, still struggling to get its servers up and running after a massive ransomware attack earlier this week, cyber-security researchers on Saturday said the most reported attacks in the healthcare industry, which rose during the pandemic, involve the leak or sale of databases on the Dark Web.

The exploited databases contain Personally Identifiable Information (PII) of patients and healthcare workers, as well as administrative information such as blood donor records, ambulance records, vaccination records, caregiver records, login credentials, etc.

“Government agencies involved in the healthcare industry should abide by HIPAA’s (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliance requirements, create awareness among users regarding cyber-attacks, online scams, and phishing campaigns, set up policies for secure passwords and enable multi-factor authentication (MFA),” a spokesperson of AI-driven cyber-security firm CloudSEK told IANS.

The cyber attack on AIIMS shut down its main and back-up servers.

The attackers hacked the e-hospital service which manages the patient data system, affecting the outpatient department (OPD) and sample collection services.

Those behind the cyber attack have warned AIIMS to “prepare for a negotiation”.

Delhi Police are investigating the cyber attack.

Meanwhile, AIIMS officials said that all affected online patient services are now being run on manual mode.

According to CloudSEK, a massive spike in cyberattacks on healthcare organisations has been witnessed during the pandemic.

“Our research shows that in the first four months of 2022, the number of cyberattacks on the industry rose by 95.34 per cent compared to the same period in 2021. The Indian healthcare sector was the second most targeted when it comes to cyberattacks worldwide,” the company spokesperson said.

Protecting patients’ medical and financial information has emerged as a new challenge for healthcare organisations.

According to Indusface, an application security SaaS company, there were more than 1 million cyber attacks of…

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