Content by Mathew J. Schwartz

Experts Urge Immediate Juniper Firewall and Switch Patching

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  September 1, 2023

Security experts are warning organizations with Juniper Networks SRX firewalls and EX switches to update them immediately to patch multiple vulnerabilities attackers have been targeting to remotely execute code, and which may allow them to pivot to internal networks.

TikTok Says US Threatens Ban Unless Chinese Owners Divest

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  March 17, 2023

TikTok says the Biden administration has demanded that the company's Chinese owners divest their stake in the company or risk seeing the app get banned in America. The U.S., Canada, EU, U.K. and New Zealand have all banned the use of TikTok on government devices, citing national security concerns.

White House Unveils Biden's National Cybersecurity Strategy

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  March 2, 2023

The Biden administration has unveiled its new national cybersecurity strategy, detailing top challenges facing the U.S. and plans for addressing them. Goals include minimum security requirements for critical infrastructure sector organizations and liability for poor software development practices.

3rd FTX Official Pleads Guilty to Criminal Charges

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  March 1, 2023

As U.S. prosecutors continue to probe collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Nishad Singh, the former head of engineering, has pleaded guilty to multiple criminal charges and agreed to assist prosecutors with their case against founder Sam Bankman-Fried, accused of orchestrating billions in fraud.

Ireland Set to Notify 20,000 More Health Data Breach Victims

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  February 21, 2023

Ireland's child and family agency, Tusla, says it is beginning a months-long process to notify 20,000 individuals that their personal information was exposed in the May 2021 ransomware attack against the Health Service Executive, which formerly managed Tusla's IT systems.

Spanish Court Approves Twitter Hacking Suspect's Extradition

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  February 20, 2023

Spain's high court has approved the U.S. Department of Justice's request that British national Joseph James O'Connor be extradited to face charges that he helped hack Twitter in 2020 to perpetrate a cryptocurrency scam. The final extradition decision now rests with the Spanish government.

Ransomware: ESXiArgs Campaign Snares at Least 2,803 Victims

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  February 8, 2023

As the massive ESXiArgs ransomware campaign continues to target unpatched VMware ESXi hypervisors, cybersecurity experts have released a script that can decrypt at least some affected virtual machines. Ransomware trackers count at least 2,803 victims, primarily in France, the U.S. and Germany.

Microsoft Experiences Second Major Cloud Outage in 2 Weeks

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  February 7, 2023

Microsoft suffered its second major outage in less than two weeks, as users in North America and beyond were left unable to send, receive or search emails via Outlook.com and unable to access some additional functionality, including calendar APIs. Microsoft blamed unspecified "recent changes."

JD Sports Details Data Breach Affecting 10 Million Customers

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  January 30, 2023

JD Sports, a sports fashion retailer with global operations, says personal details pertaining to about 10 million online customers of JD Sports and its Size?, Millets, Blacks, Scotts and MilletSport brands from 2018 to 2020 have been stolen by attackers and warns customers to beware of scammers.

Microsoft 365 Cloud Service Outage Disrupts Users Worldwide

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  January 25, 2023

Microsoft blamed an internal network configuration change for outages that disrupted access to Microsoft 365 services, including Microsoft Teams and Outlook, for users around the world. The change has been rolled back and additional infrastructure added to speed restoration, it says.

Privacy Fines: GDPR Sanctions Last Year Surged to $3 Billion

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  January 17, 2023

European data protection regulators last year imposed known privacy and data breach fines under GDPR collectively worth at least 2.9 billion euros, or $3.1 billion, which was more than double the value of fines issued in 2020, reports law firm DLA Piper.

LockBit Ransomware Group's Big Liability: 'Ego-Driven CEO'

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  January 17, 2023

The notorious LockBit 3.0 ransomware group runs just like a business, focusing on recruiting top talent and maintaining an advanced product - which has led to the group's longevity. But the operators' insecurities could be key to the group's undoing, says security researcher Jon DiMaggio.

Expect Hacking, Phishing After Leak of 200M Twitter Records

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  January 6, 2023

Expect the recently leaked database containing over 200 million Twitter records to be an ongoing resource for hackers, fraudsters and other criminals operating online, experts warn. Though 98% of the email addresses have appeared in prior breaches, bad actors can merge databases and do more damage.

Rackspace Blames Zero-Day Exploit for Ransomware Hit Success

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  January 4, 2023

Rackspace says the ransomware-wielding attackers who disrupted its hosted Microsoft Exchange Server environment last month wielded a zero-day exploit, described by CrowdStrike as being "a previously undisclosed exploit method for Exchange," to gain remote, direct access to servers it hosted.

As Twitter Downplays Outage, Security Concerns Persist

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  December 29, 2022

Twitter has suffered its first major outage since Elon Musk bought the company in late October and began serving as its CEO. The outage lasted several hours The uptime problems come amid ongoing concerns about site security following last month's mass layoffs and cybersecurity staff exodus.