Free Republic

A congressman has condemned internet trolls currently gloating over the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. 'Seems like leftists opposed to killing terrorists in the Middle East support killing CEOs in Midtown Manhattan,' wrote Representative Dean Phillips after Wednesday's murder outside a Hilton hotel in NYC. Phillips, a Democrat who represents 50 year-old Thompson's home district in Minnesota, spoke as online ghouls rejoiced in the cold-blooded execution of the healthcare chief. Among them were one tweeter who wrote: 'Brian Thompson ran a company based off exploiting people during the most vulnerable times in their life. 'I'm not sad he's dead.'...

WASHINGTON—A post on a hacker forum popular with cybercriminals has claimed UnitedHealth Group paid $22 million in a bid to recover access to data and systems encrypted by the “Blackcat” ransomware gang, according to two researchers. Neither UnitedHealth nor the hackers involved have commented on the alleged ransom payment, but a cryptocurrency tracing firm partially corroborated the claim on Monday. It is not uncommon for large companies that have been victimized by ransomware gangs to decide to pay the hackers to regain control of their networks, especially in instances where a significant disruption to customers and partners occurred. The forum...

It's being called the largest ever breach of protected patient health information by a government-regulated medical company in America's history. Change Healthcare, owned by UnitedHealth Group, fell victim to a cyberattack eight months ago, but revealed on Thursday that 100 million people had been impacted. That surpassed the previous recordholder for worst breach of US patient data: a 2015 episode at Anthem Inc. that compromised 78.8 million individuals. The first official report by Change Healthcare, which manages revenue and payments for medical providers, estimated in July that only 500 people had been compromised. Now, the scope of the February 21...

A ransomware attack against blood-donation nonprofit OneBlood, which services more than 250 American hospitals, has "significantly reduced" the org's ability to take, test, and distribute blood. In a notice today, OneBlood revealed the intrusion disrupted a "software system," and had forced the organization to use manual processes and procedures to remain operational. The outfit provides blood for healthcare facilities across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. "Manual processes take significantly longer to perform and impact inventory availability," OneBlood spokesperson Susan Forbes explained in a statement. "In an effort to further manage the blood supply we have asked the more...

The United States Marshals Service (USMS) was hit with a ransomware attack, the agency said in a statement. It was a “Major Incident,” one that could endanger the safety of the nation. The incident occurred on February 17, and “officials determined that it constitutes a major incident,” according to an agency spokesperson. Ransomware is malware that locks up computer systems until a “ransom” is paid to unlock the system. “Shortly after that discovery, the USMS disconnected the affected system, and the Department of Justice initiated a forensic investigation,” according to the spokesperson. “The affected system contains law enforcement sensitive information,...

Australian authorities are part of an international hunt for cyber criminals who've shut down the nation's largest meat and food processing company, JBS Foods. JBS facilities in other countries have also been hit in a cyber attack that could affect meat supply chains world wide. Agriculture Minister David Littleproud says the federal government is doing all it can to get Australian abattoirs functioning again, and to limit effects on domestic supply and export markets. The company has 47 facilities across Australia, including abattoirs and feed lots. Mr Littleproud says it's too soon to say who might be behind the attack...

Hackers using a tool stolen from the United States government conducted extensive cyberattacks on Friday that hit dozens of countries around the world, severely disrupting Britain’s public health system and wreaking havoc on computers elsewhere, including Russia. The tool was leaked by a group calling itself the Shadow Brokers, which has been dumping stolen N.S.A. hacking tools online since last year. Microsoft rolled out a patch for the vulnerability in March, but hackers apparently took advantage of the fact that vulnerable targets — particularly hospitals — had yet to update their systems. The malware was circulated by email. Targets were...

p>Since February, a number of Apple users have reported locked devices displaying ransom demands written in Russian.Earlier this week, a security professional posted a message to a private email group requesting information related a possible compromise of at least 40 million iCloud accounts.Salted Hash started digging around on this story after the email came to our attention. In it, a list member questioned the others about a rumor concerning "rumblings of a massive (40 million) data breach at Apple."How to respond to ransomware threatsThe message goes on to state that the alleged breach was conducted by a Russian actor, and...

The script is disguised as a document Security researchers have discovered a new strain of ransomware coded entirely in Javascript, which could increase its chances of being activated. Unlike executable program files, Javascript documents do not always trigger a security warning on Windows or require administrator access to run. Named RAA, the malware is disguised as a document and starts encrypting files immediately when opened. One security expert said the approach was likely to fool many victims. "It's an interesting approach to ransomware," said Ken Munro of security company Pen Test Partners. "Using Javascript as an attachment to an email...

May 19, 2016 FTC expands tech support fraud lawsuit Keith Griffin The Federal Trade Commission has added three new defendants to an ongoing case against a tech support scam with ties to Connecticut. The scheme allegedly bilked consumers out of tens of millions of dollars by pretending to represent Microsoft, Apple, and other major tech companies. Back in November, the Connecticut attorney general's office joined in the FTC action along with the state of Pennsylvania in a request to shut down a tech support scam operating out of Essex and two locations in Pennsylvania that allegedly scammed consumers out of...