Category Archives: Uncategorized

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 […]

What’s happening? At the Texas Blockchain Summit, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz linked natural gas flares with a potential energy source for bitcoin mining. Why is this important? From the words of U.S. Senator Cruz: “The beauty of Bitcoin mining is that if you can connect to the internet, you can use that energy and derive […]

What’s happening? A survey released this week by Price Waterhouse and Cooper says that 69% predict a rise in cyber spending in 2022. More than 25% say cyber spending will be more than double digit growth. Why is this important? Last year’s study showed only 55% thought there would be a rise in cyber spending. […]

What is happening? U.S. House and Senate members are advocating for standalone cybersecurity committees to “address mounting threats and streamline an increasingly bogged down process to approve legislation. “ Why is this important? As Congress does, so will your states. How will this be important? Increase focus on cybersecurity addresses notice requirements for businesses, blockchain, cryptocurrency […]

What is happening? The Department of Justice has created the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team that will investigate cryptocurrency through the lens of cyber crimes and money laundering. Why is this important? The announcement also included ties to ransomware as ransoms are usually in cryptocurrency. How will this be important? Look to this enforcement hierarchy to […]

What’s happening? Pac-Sun will be the 1st major retailer to accept cryptocurrency at its retail establishments. Why is this important? PacSun will utilize blockchain payment provider, BitPay.  How will this be important? The primary consumer for Sunpac is GenZ. The retailers decision making is driven by it’s GenZ customer base. 54% of current or former crypto owners […]