EU Committee Probes TikTok, UK’s Updated GDPR
European Union lawmakers have criticized the British government’s updated privacy bill over concerns that it fails to adequately protect European citizens’ fundamental rights. Lawmakers also heard from the Irish data authority on the status of its pending TikTok inquiry. At a European Parliament hearing on Tuesday, members of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs…
Meta fined $1.3B for violating EU GDPR data transfer rules on privacy
Meta has been fined $1.3 billion (€1.2 billion) by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) for violating the terms of the EU’s GDPR by continuing to transfer EU users’ data to the US without adequate safeguards. Meta has failed to “address the risks to the fundamental rights and freedoms” of Facebook’s European users, the DPC…
RA Ransomware Group Emerges With Custom Spin on Babuk
A newly discovered ransomware gang dubbed RA Group is ramping up its cyberattacks — the latest in a line of threat actors leveraging the leaked Babuk source code. The group distinguishes itself from the rest of the Babuk pack, however, with a highly customized approach. According to an analysis from Cisco Talos this week, RA…
Data Breach Roundup: Attempted Extortion Attack on Dragos
Dragos Industrial cybersecurity company Dragos disclosed a likely attempted ransomware attack. In a post it characterizes as a bid to destigmatize security events, the company said a “known cybersecurity group” attempted but failed to gain control of a Dragos system. It did retrieve 25 intelligence reports normally only available to customers. The group pivoted to…
Infamous Twitter Hacker Cops to Cybercrimes, Extradited to US for Trial
Stalking, extortion, and swatting are just a sampling of the cybercrimes UK citizen Joseph James O’Connor has confessed to committing — dating back to a spectacular 2020 Twitter caper where he hijacked famous accounts, including Elon Musk’s, to defraud victims. O’Conner (aka PlugwalkJoe), 23, was extradited from Spain to New York to face charges related…
Why Haven’t Ransomware Groups Assisted Russia’s Invasion?
When Russia launched its all-out war against Ukraine in February 2022, many cybersecurity watchers feared ransomware groups would serve as a proxy force. But Moscow doesn’t appear to have deputized cybercrime-driven crypto-locking malware brigades. So said participants in a panel held Friday by the Institute for Security and Technology on the ransomware implications of the…
Google Launches Cybersecurity Career Certificate Program
Google has added a new certification program aimed at training a new generation of cybersecurity professionals under its existing Google Career Certificates initiative. Google estimates there are currently more than 750,000 open cybersecurity jobs in the US alone, while meanwhile the rate of cyberattacks increased 38% globally. The new Google Cybersecurity Certificate program will offer…
Court Rules in Favor of Merck in $1.4 Billion Insurance Claim Over NotPetya Cyberattack
The Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division has ruled in favor of Merck in its $1.4 billion claim against the insurance industry for denying payment for damages caused by the 2017 NotPetya cyberattack. Merck did not have separate cyber insurance, and instead relied on the ‘all risks’ element of its property insurance. According to…
T-Mobile suffered the second data breach in 2023
T-Mobile suffered the second data breach of 2023, threat actors had access to the personal information of hundreds of customers starting in late February 2023. The security breach impacted a limited number of customers, only 836 individuals. The carrier states that personal financial account information and call records were not affected by the security breach….
Iranian ‘Educated Manticore’ Hackers Target Israel
Iranian hackers are deploying an updated backdoor apparently targeting Israeli academic researchers with an interest in Iraq. Researchers at Check Point Security said a group they have dubbed “Educated Manticore” is sending the Iraq-themed bait in order to coax users into initiating a new and improved infection chain that ends with deployment of an implant…
