Kayla Elliott

The Blacklist Fails Again – Colorado DOT Corrupted with Ransomware

Kayla Elliott / February 23, 2018

Update 4/6/2018: Six weeks after the ransomware variant, SamSam infiltrated Colorado DOT’s networks, systems are still not running at full efficiency. The remediation cost have totaled approximately $1.5 million, and networks are only working at 80%. The costs included in the estimate only include the overtime costs and other unexpected costs. Update 3/6/2018: This just keeps getting […]

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Intel Facing 32 Lawsuits Due to Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerabilities

Kayla Elliott / February 21, 2018

Intel in Hot Water – 32 Lawsuits Filed According to Intel’s annual 10-K report filed with the Security Exchange Commission (SEC), the company is facing 30 customer class action lawsuits and two securities class action lawsuits as a direct result of the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities reported last year. The plaintiffs of the customer suit

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Pennsylvania Town Pays $185K to Fix Systems

Kayla Elliott / February 21, 2018

Pennsylvania City Offices Struggle After Malware Riddles Systems An unknown malware variant recently took down the city offices of Allentown, Pennsylvania. The malware attack was out of the realm of the city’s IT department, leaving them with few options. It was reported, city officials contacted Microsoft and ended up paying the company $185,000, in an

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New Ransomware as a Service (Raas) Offered — FREE of Charge

Kayla Elliott / February 19, 2018

New Ransomware Variant Spread Through Free RaaS Offering As if things couldn’t get worse, hackers have now acquired a free ransomware variant to distribute however they may like. The latest variant deemed Saturn, is being offered as a Ransomware as a Service (Raas), free of charge. This means, hackers are provided the malicious code. From

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Ransomware Slows North Carolina County Offices to a Crawl

Kayla Elliott / February 16, 2018

Ransomware Strikes North Carolina County Offices Another ransomware attack has been executed. This time, the victim was North Carolina’s Davidson County. Officials noticed an issue with their systems on February 16, 2018. The malicious infection took down several county office networks, forcing employees to go back to pen and paper. It remains unclear if the

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Crypto-Jacking: The Next Major Cyber Threat

Kayla Elliott / February 14, 2018

Experts Believe Crypto-Jacking is Next Big Cyber Threat Experts have shifted their emphasis from ransomware to crypto-jacking when considering today’s emerging cyber threats. Ransomware is a malicious software that encrypts files, then demands a payment to unlock them. Alternatively, crypto-jacking is the unauthorized use of one’s computer or network to mine for digital currency, or

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Microsoft Patches 50 Vulnerabilities on Patch Tuesday

Kayla Elliott / February 14, 2018

New Update Resolves 50 Security Vulnerabilities This week brought the second Tuesday of the month, which is known to some as Patch Tuesday. On the second Tuesday of every month, Microsoft issues updates to patch any security vulnerabilities found over the last month. The update that hit this week patched approximately 50 security gaps in

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Rob Cheng, CEO and Founder of PC Pitstop, Recognized as 2018 CRN® Channel Chief

Kayla Elliott / February 14, 2018

PC Pitstop Founder and CEO, Rob Cheng, Named as CRN Channel Chief Sioux City, Iowa, February 12, 2018 – PC Pitstop, an American leader in end-point and server security, announced today that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, has added Rob Cheng, Founder and CEO, to its prestigious list of 2018 Channel Chiefs. The

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Olympics Opening Ceremonies Impacted by Malware

Kayla Elliott / February 13, 2018

Malware Takes Systems Offline, Disrupting 2018 Winter Olympics An unknown malware variant infected the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics computer systems. The infection took place right before the opening ceremonies on February 9, 2018. It appears the infection was initiated by an insider who knew various pieces of the networking and credentials needed to successfully infiltrate the systems.

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