Imagine a criminal gaining unrestricted access to your child’s most private information — medical records, Social Security numbers and even details about their daily bus ride to school. This alarming scenario is becoming a reality for a growing number of families as sophisticated cybercriminals increasingly target schools across the United States, holding their computer systems and private data hostage.
Data gathered by K12 Security Information Exchange, known as K12 SIX, a nonprofit focused on protecting schools from cybersecurity threats, and analyzed by CBS News, shows that there have been hundreds of ransomware attacks on districts since 2016.
Read more…
Source: CBS News
Related:
- Capitol attack’s cybersecurity fallout: Stolen laptops, lost data and possible espionage
January 11, 2021
When hostile actors penetrated the Capitol Building on January 6, they gained access to individual chambers and offices and remained at large within the Capitol complex for well over two hours. We have reports that items were stolen. One report comes from acting US Attorney for DC, Michael Sherwin, who stated “items, electronic items were stolen ...
- Investigation launched into vulnerabilities found within US Judiciary case file system
January 8, 2021
The United States Judiciary has announced an audit into its systems, following concerns its case file system has been compromised. In making the announcement, the Judiciary said the Administrative Office of the US Courts was working with the Department of Homeland Security on a security audit relating to vulnerabilities in the Judiciary’s Case Management/Electronic Case Files ...
- US government formally blames Russia for SolarWinds hack
January 5, 2021
Four US cyber-security agencies, including the FBI, CISA, ODNI, and the NSA, have released a joint statement today formally accusing the Russian government of orchestrating the SolarWinds supply chain attack. US officials said that “an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actor, likely Russian in origin” was responsible for the SolarWinds hack, which officials described as “an intelligence ...
- Japanese Aerospace Firm Kawasaki Warns of Data Breach
December 29, 2020
Japanese aerospace company Kawasaki Heavy Industries on Monday warned of a security incident that may have led to unauthorized access of customer data. According to the company’s data breach notification, it first discovered unauthorized parties accessing a server in Japan, from an overseas office in Thailand, on June 11, 2020. After terminating that access, the company ...
- US IoT Improvement Act Becomes Law
December 17, 2020
After passing the House and Senate, H.R. 1668 or the IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2020 was signed by US President Donald Trump last December 4, 2020. The law requires federal agencies to have cybersecurity requirements to all controlled and owned IoT devices. The bill had 26 co-sponsors with an almost equal number of Democrats and ...
- Suspected Russian hackers spied on U.S. Treasury emails – sources
December 13, 2020
Hackers believed to be working for Russia have been monitoring internal email traffic at the U.S. Treasury and Commerce departments, according to people familiar with the matter, adding they feared the hacks uncovered so far may be the tip of the iceberg. The hack is so serious it led to a National Security Council meeting at ...