Windows TCO Leftovers
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Exponential-e Ltd ☛ $10 million reward offer for apprehension of unmasked LockBit ransomware leader - Exponential-e Blog
Unsurprisingly, many amateur sleuths are using information released by the authorities in an attempt learn more about Dmitry Khoroshev - and potentially win their share of a reward if he is ever detained.
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Federal News Network ☛ Two DoD agencies team up to collect software vulnerabilities
Defense contractors now have a place to voluntarily report cybersecurity flaws. The Vulnerability Disclosure Program started last month under the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center, the DC3, working with the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. For details, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to the program director, Melissa Vice.
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[Repeat] Security Week ☛ Shields Up: How to Minimize Ransomware Exposure
The ransomware attack on UnitedHealth subsidiary Change Healthcare has remained top of mind since its disclosure in February 2024. This incident highlights the attractiveness of data-rich healthcare firms to hackers and the increasing sophistication of cybercriminals. However, the Change Healthcare attack is merely the tip of the iceberg, with numerous ransomware attacks staying underreported in the media.
Ransomware has emerged as a highly profitable enterprise, evidenced by Change Healthcare’s payment of a $22 million ransom in bitcoin. In 2023 alone, payments made by ransomware attack victims doubled compared to the previous year, surpassing $1 billion, as reported by blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis.
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Wired ☛ A (Strange) Interview With the Russian-Military-Linked Hackers Targeting US Water Utilities
After that initial, less-than-friendly exchange of ideas, WIRED reached out to Cyber Army of Russia's Telegram account to continue the conversation. So began a strange, two-week-long interview with the group's spokesperson, “Julia," represented by an apparently AI-generated image of a woman standing in front of Red Square's St. Basil's Cathedral. Over days of intermittent Telegram messages, often interspersed with unsolicited Russian nationalist political talking points, Julia answered WIRED's questions—or at least some of them—laid out the group's ethos and motivations, and explained the rationale for the hackers' months-long cyber sabotage rampage, which initially focused on Ukrainian networks but has more recently included an unprecedented string of attacks hitting US and European water and wastewater systems.