Monthly Archives: October 2021

What’s happening? White hat hackers, like academics or the press, discovered a flaw in the Missouri Department of Education’s website that exposed the social security numbers of teachers. They notified the state to not draw attention. In turn, the Governor attacked the white hat hackers who were trying to do a good. Why is this […]

What’s happening? Gov. Greg Abbott wants Texas to be the center of the semi conductor world. (sssh! Don’t tell Austin it isn’t the center of the world). Why is this important? The Gov. is assembling a task force in hopes of bringing the National Semiconductor Technology Center to the state. How will this be important? […]

What’s happening? Rackspace conducted a survey of 1,420 government IT decision-makers and learned: 52% expressed significant concerns over recruiting and retaining cybersecurity talent 84% said they lack the expertise to meet current cybersecurity and compliance challenge 73% time constraint problems 59% lack of training challenges Why is this important? 58% were concerned about attacks of […]

What is happening? Massachusetts Legislature is consider S48 (2021 | MA) , An Act to ensure a free and open internet in the commonwealth, to keep providers from  blocking, throttling or engaging in the paid prioritization of providing Internet service. Why is this important? Net neutrality is moving to a state to state issue How […]

What’s happening? Halloween candy manufacturer was hit by a ransomware attack. We’re talking core Halloween candy on the US: Everlasting Gobstoppers, Lemonheads, Now and Later, Nerds, SweeTarts, Laffy Taffy, Red Hots, Pixy Stix, Atomic Fireballs, Boston Baked Beans. Why is this important? Ransomware attacks are up and here we have an attack that could impact […]

What’s happening? Hacks and ransomware are occurring in greater numbers. COVID created a lot of new healthcare data. Why is this important? The California Attorney General issued guidance to heath care industry that put the industry on notice that the office is concerned by health care data privacy. How will this be important? The California […]

What’s happening? Financial firms identified $600Million in ransoms paid for ransomeware attacks. U.S. Department of Treasury investigators say it identified $5.2 Billion in bitcoin transactions that appear to be ransom payments. Why is this important? The escalation is a critical infrastructure security threat. How will this be important? Treasury conclusion is that ” private sector has […]

What’s happening? Discussions about 2020 election audits in Pennsylvania are adding data privacy elements to prevent voter information discovered during the audit from being sold to third parties. Why is this important? The audit standards in PA have included requests for the last 4 numbers of social securities numbers and full drivers license numbers. How […]

What’s happening? Australia and Oklahoma have something in common- an intent to increase criminal penalties for ransomware. Why is this important? Australia’s approach is to create a stand alone aggravated charge for ransomware. Also included is a notification requirement for businesses that pay more than $10million in ransom per year. How will this be important? […]

What’s happening? China cracked down on mining, reducing mining to zero. That leaves the U.S. mining 35% of crypto currency followed by Kazakstan, Russia, Canada, Ireland, Malaysia, Germany, Iran and Norway Why is this important? More mining means more attention from financial interests. This begets more attention from regulators. How will this be important? The […]