Free Republic

The year 2021 saw new threats emerge in the cybersphere as malicious code was weaponized with devastating effects that reverberated throughout the American economy. It is becoming clear that cyberattacks are quickly becoming a great equalizer for militarily inferior countries seeking to attack America. This year the federal government also created several new initiatives that have so far shown inconclusive results, but the American cybersecurity posture was largely defensive, and as a result, millions of dollars in ransoms were paid to cybercriminals in 2021. So, with that said, here are some of the more notable cybersecurity events of 2021. January:...

A massive ransomware campaign appears to have infected a number of organisations around the world. Computers in thousands of locations have apparently been locked by a program that demands $300 (£230) in Bitcoin. There have been reports of infections in more than 70 countries, including the UK, US, China, Russia, Spain, Italy and Taiwan. Many security researchers are linking the incidents together. "This is huge," said Jakub Kroustek at Avast. Another, at cyber-security firm Kaspersky, said that the ransomware had been spotted cropping up in 74 countries and that the number was still growing. There were a number of reports...

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...