The Colonial Pipeline, which stretches more than 5,500 miles from Houston to New York and provides the eastern United States with almost half of its diesel, gas, and jet fuel, was shuttered after a ransomware cyber-attack. The attack was carried out by DarkSide, a cyber-criminal gang that attacks privately-owned businesses and donates a portion of what they take to charity. DarkSide also sells the ransomware they develop to other cyber-criminals who can then use it to carry out attacks in exchange for part of the profit.

Published in Cyber Defense eMagazine – July 2021 Edition

We all trust medical providers with our personal information, often because we do not have a choice. If we choose not to share our private and personal information, medical professionals will not be able to perform their job. A doctor who is treating you must have all of the information required; it is our health — and our lives. Something I think we have all learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, or the coronavirus pandemic.

But what about our privacy?

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Early last December, one of Israel’s largest insurance companies, Shirbit, revealed to the public they had been subjected to a data security breach that resulted in the cyber-criminals who go by the name of Black Shadow obtaining medical records of Shirbit clients. The hackers provided the insurance company with an original one million dollar ransom that was to be paid within 24 hours, with the ransom amount increasing thereafter every 24 hours. During this time, rather than seeking assistance from professional cyber-security experts, the management team at Shirbit sought to handle the situation internally, which evidently accumulated into a disastrous result.

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