Tag: USA

Ransomware cost US companies almost $21 billion in downtime in 2020

October 12, 2021

The victims lost an average of nine days to downtime and two-and-a-half months to investigations, an analysis of disclosed attacks shows. An analysis of 186 successful ransomware attacks against businesses in the United States in 2020 has shown that the companies lost almost US$21 billion due to attack-induced downtime, according to technology website Comparitech. Compared to … More Ransomware cost US companies almost $21 billion in downtime in 2020

Authorities remove web shells from compromised Exchange servers

April 15, 2021

Law enforcement steps in to thwart attacks leveraging the recently-disclosed Microsoft Exchange Server vulnerabilities. The United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has carried out a court-approved operation to “copy and remove” malicious web shells from hundreds of systems across the US that were compromised through the mass exploitation of zero-day flaws in Microsoft Exchange … More Authorities remove web shells from compromised Exchange servers

Apple rushes to patch zero‑day flaw in iOS, iPadOS

March 30, 2021

The bug is under active exploitation by unknown attackers and affects a wide range of devices, including iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches. Apple has released an emergency update for its iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS operating systems to patch a zero-day security flaw that is being actively exploited in the wild. The vulnerability affects multiple models … More Apple rushes to patch zero‑day flaw in iOS, iPadOS

Protecting the water supply – hacker edition

February 12, 2021

What can municipalities do to better protect their water supply systems? We reported recently about an attack against the water supply in Oldsmar, Florida, and worry about the potential for future and copycat attacks against other lightly defended water treatment systems in small towns worldwide and what can be done to stem such incursions. In the Florida … More Protecting the water supply – hacker edition

Hacker attempts to poison Florida city’s water supply

February 10, 2021

While the incursion was thwarted in time, cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure are a major cause for concern. Last Friday, an unknown attacker accessed the computer systems of a water treatment facility in Oldsmar, Florida, and attempted to poison the city’s water supply by manipulating the chemical levels of sodium hydroxide. This substance, commonly referred to … More Hacker attempts to poison Florida city’s water supply