Windows TCO Leftovers
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National Public Data’s Collection Suddenly Very Public
This is not the first time a huge amount of compromised data has been traced back to some legitimate but nevertheless scummy broker. There was Exactis with 340 million records, People Data Labs with 622 million, and Apollo with around 200 million. The only reason most of us have heard of these businesses is because they hoard our information and — critically — do not protect it. These giant brokers evidently do not care about basic data privacy practices and should not be allowed to operate, and their executives should be held responsible for their failure.
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National Public Data says only 1.3M affected by breach
Florida-based National Public Data (NPD) confirmed the number of affected individuals on Friday via a filing with Maine's attorney general. Said filings require organizations to list the total number of affected individuals and separately the number affected in Maine alone.
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The State of Ransomware - Schneier on Security
Palo Alto Networks published its semi-annual report on ransomware. From the Executive Summary: [...]
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Ransomware Review: First Half of 2024
Unit 42 monitors ransomware and extortion leak sites closely to keep tabs on threat activity. We reviewed compromise announcements from 53 dedicated leak sites in the first half of 2024 and found 1,762 new posts. This averages to approximately 294 posts a month and almost 68 posts a week. Of the 53 ransomware groups whose leak sites we monitored, six of the groups accounted for more than half of the compromises observed.
In February, we reported a 49% increase year-over-year in alleged victims posted on ransomware leak sites. So far, in 2024, comparing the first half of 2023 to the first half of 2024, we see an even further increase of 4.3%. The higher level of activity observed in 2023 was no fluke.
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Bypass Paywalls Clean Shut Down For DMCA Anti-Circumvention Violations
Bypass Paywalls Clean, a popular browser extension that allows users to view subscription websites without a subscription, has been shut down along with 3,879 forks. In a takedown notice filed at GitHub, News Media Alliance, which represents 2,200 news, magazine, and digital media publishers, explains that BPC violates its members rights under the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions.