DataBreachToday.com

CIO Alex Gallo on Balancing Digital Change, Security and Continuous Learning
Alex Gallo, CyberEdBoard member and CIO, shared how he drives secure digital transformation by balancing AI integration with cybersecurity, fostering a security-first culture, and emphasizing continuous learning across his teams and the organization’s leadership.

Plastic Surgeon Paid $53K Ransom But Says ‘the Real Criminal’ Is HHS
Dr. James Breit recalled the day a hacker locked up his systems with ransomware at his plastic surgery practice. He paid $53,000 in ransom. Nearly, seven years later, after paying a $500,000 HIPAA fine, Breit claims he got better treatment from the cybercriminals than he did federal regulators.

Yakabod Deal to Strengthen Everfox's Insider Risk, Cyber Incident Response Platform
With its acquisition of Yakabod, Everfox expands capabilities in insider risk and cyber incident management. The move promises stronger integration and greater control over security workflows, benefiting public sector and critical infrastructure clients who operate in highly regulated environments.

Hackers Using Password Spraying to Steal User Microsoft Account Credentials
Multiple Chinese hacking groups are using a botnet named for a TCP routing port number to conduct password spraying attacks, warned Microsoft Thursday. The Quad7 operators are almost certainly located in China. Botnet activity can be difficult to monitor.

Also: Breaches at OnePoint Patient Care and French ISP Free
This week: S&P said poor material vulnerability remediaton can be a material risk factor, OnePoint in the United States and French ISP Free suffered data breaches, a Russian court sentenced REvil members, Five Eyes published security guidelines for small businesses.

Colorado Laboratory Already Facing Several Proposed Class Action Breach Lawsuits
A Colorado-based pathology laboratory is notifying more than 1.8 million patients that their sensitive information was compromised in an April hack, one of the largest breaches reported by a medical testing lab to U.S. federal regulators to date. Ransomware gang Medusa is blamed for the attack.

New Funding to Aid US Government Growth, Generative AI Security Product Development
Zenity has closed a $38 million Series B round to advance its agentic AI security platform and extend its no-code and low-code application support. With investment from Third Point Ventures and DTCP, the funding enables Zenity to cater to clients in sectors like financial services and healthcare.

Lazarus Group in Particular Using Cross-Platform Languages to Hit macOS Targets
Cryptocurrency-seeking hackers are increasingly targeting macOS users. So warn security researchers as they track a rise in macOS backdoors and information-stealing malware, much of which traces back to a well-known cryptocurrency heist culprit: North Korea.

Volt Typhoon, APT31 and APT41 Tied to Campaigns Targeting Sophos' Edge Devices
Firewall maker Sophos disclosed Thursday a half-decade worth of efforts by multiple nation-state Chinese hacking groups to infiltrate its appliances, calling the admission a wake-up call for the cybersecurity industry. Targeting firewall appliances is a known nation-state tactic.

Deal to Drive Application Security, Attack Surface Management Fusion for Detectify
With Insight Partners as majority owner, Detectify plans to combine application security and attack surface management capabilities. Insight's purchase supports a renewed focus on R&D and engagement with application security professionals in the U.S. and Northern Europe, Detectify’s core markets.

Also: Truth Terminal Founder Social Media Hack Inflates Fraudulent Token
This week, a Truth Terminal founder hack, U.S. recovered stolen crypto, TeamTNT resurfaced, former FTX exec Nishad Singh avoided prison, a possible SEC's X account hacker plea deal, Tether reported to be under investigation, trends in digital assets enforcement and pending Dutch crypto legislation.

Also: Election Security Successes, Key Takeaways from Recent ISMG Events
In the latest weekly update, ISMG editors discussed the impact of recent law enforcement operations against ransomware gangs, the state of U.S. election security on the eve of the presidential election, and the key trends emerging from recent ISMG industry roundtables and summits.

Understanding the Impact of Security on the Business Makes You More Effective
With cybersecurity now embedded across all industries and functions, the importance of aligning security measures with business objectives has never been greater. Here’s why being business savvy is crucial in cybersecurity - and how you can cultivate it to become a more effective professional.

NY AG Action and $1M Fine Follow Back-to-Back Hacks That Affected 224,500 in 2023
An upstate New York-based medical practice must spend $2.25 million to improve its data security practices over the next five years, plus pay state regulators up to a $1 million fine following an investigation into two ransomware attacks days apart in 2023 that affected nearly 224,500 people.

United States’ Top Cyber Defense Agency Mobilizes Nationwide Election Support Hub
The director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said Wednesday the agency is establishing an election operations room to help counter foreign interference and support state officials amid escalating cyber and physical threats to the 2024 vote.

Insight Partners-Led Round Boosts US Growth, Fuels Threat Intelligence for Filigran
Filigran’s $35 million Series B funding, led by Insight Partners, positions the company to scale its threat intelligence and proactive security capabilities while expanding its U.S. footprint. Plans include doubling the engineering team and strengthening breach and attack simulation capabilities.

Vendor Blames Delta's Outage Severity on Its 'Own Response and IT Infrastructure'
CrowdStrike has countersued customer Delta Air Lines, accusing the airline of employing a lawsuit and seeking damages in "a desperate attempt to shift blame" for Delta's own IT inadequacies having exacerbated its outage, unlike "other major airlines" that quickly resumed operations.

Russian SVR Targeting Government, Academia, Defense Organizations Globally
A Russian-state hacking group is posing as Microsoft employees and sending malicious configuration files as email attachments to target organizations across the world. The campaign has the hallmarks of a Midnight Blizzard phishing campaign although its use of an RDP configuration file is novel.

New Compliance Tool Say Many AI Firms Fail to Meet Security, Fairness Standards
Large language models developed by Meta and Mistral AI are among a dozen artificial intelligence models that fail to meet the cybersecurity and fairness requirements of the European Union AI Act, which went into effect on Aug. 1, said developers of a new open-source AI evaluation tool.