Two top Ukrainian cyber officials dismissed amid embezzlement probe
Two high-ranking cybersecurity officials in Ukraine were dismissed on Monday, according to a senior government official, amid an investigation into suspected embezzlement of state funds. Yurii Shchyhol, the head of Ukraine’s State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection (SSSCIP), said in a statement that he submitted his resignation from the post early this morning. “I am confident that I will be able to prove my innocence during an impartial investigation and directly in court,” Shchyhol said.
Nearly 9 million patients’ records compromised in data breach
A cyberattack on a medical transcription company compromised highly sensitive health data belonging to nearly four million patients at Northwell Health, New York State’s largest healthcare provider and private employer. The breach also impacted a healthcare system in Illinois, Cook County Health, which disclosed that 1.2 million of its patients were affected. About four million additional patients from undisclosed locations were also impacted. The attack is one of the worst medical data breaches in recent years, according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data breach list.
Recognizing fake news now a required subject in California schools
Pushing back against the surge of misinformation online, California will now require all K-12 students to learn media literacy skills — such as recognizing fake news and thinking critically about what they encounter on the internet. Gov. Gavin Newsom last month signed Assembly Bill 873, which requires the state to add media literacy to curriculum frameworks for English language arts, science, math and history-social studies, rolling out gradually beginning next year. Instead of a stand-alone class, the topic will be woven into existing classes and lessons throughout the school year.
Canadian government discloses data breach after contractor hacks
The Canadian government says two of its contractors have been hacked, exposing sensitive information belonging to an undisclosed number of government employees. These breaches occurred last month and impacted Brookfield Global Relocation Services (BGRS) and SIRVA Worldwide Relocation & Moving Services, both providers of relocation services to Canadian government employees. Government-related information stored on compromised BGRS and SIRVA Canada systems dates back to 1999, and it belongs to a broad spectrum of affected individuals, including members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Canadian Armed Forces personnel, and Government of Canada employees.
US Cybersecurity Lab Suffers Major Data Breach
A leading US laboratory famed for cybersecurity, nuclear and clean energy research has reportedly suffered a major breach of employee data. Dating back to the 1940s, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is responsible for generating the first usable electricity from nuclear power and developing the first nuclear propulsion systems for nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers. More recently, it claims to have become “a world leader in securing critical infrastructure systems,” and particularly industrial control systems.
Crimeware and financial cyberthreats in 2024
At Kaspersky, we constantly monitor the financial cyberthreat landscape, which includes threats to financial institutions, such as banks, and financially motivated threats, such as ransomware, that target a broader range of industries. As part of our Kaspersky Security Bulletin, we try to predict how these cyberthreats will evolve in the coming year to help individuals and businesses to be prepared to face them. In this article, we will first assess our predictions for 2023, and then, try to figure out which trends are coming in 2024.
