Security News for the Week Ending February 12, 2021
Law Firm Goodwin Procter Hacked
Goodwin Procter managing parnter Mark Bettencourt confirmed that some of their clients’ data was compromised. But not to worry; it only affected a small percentage of their clients. One more time, we have a “supply chain attack”. While the vendor was unnamed, I suspect it was Accellion. They suffered a breach that is all over the news due to the high profile targets that suffered a loss. So now a very high profile law firm has to explain to its clients why its security was not good enough to protect their most sensitive data. If you are a client of a law firm, how confident are you that they can protect your data? Credit: ABA Journal
What Does This Mean for Cities?
Salesforce is joining other big tech companies in changing the work-life equation. This week they announced that most staff, after Covid, will only be in the office 1-3 days a week, many workers will never return to the office and a few workers will be in the office 4-5 days a week. This means that work from home security is now permanent, but it also questions the implications for downtown big cities. Salesforce has 9,000 workers in San Francisco. If half of them never come to the office and another 30% come to the office 1-2 days a week, what does this mean for downtown retail and office space? Credit: MSN
State Department Declassifies Report on Cuba’s Sonic Weapon
You may remember reports of Cuba having a secret sonic weapon back in 2017-2018. A newly declassified report by the State Department’s own Accountability Review Board lambasted the department’s response to the attack as lacking leadership, having ineffective communication and being systemically disorganized. There are 104 pages of detail, but none of them paint the previous administration favorably. As a result of the botched investigation we will probably never understand what the weapon was that Cuba attacked us with. Credit: Vice
Ex-Students Plead Guilty to Stealing and Trading Nude Pics and Vids
Two former SUNY Plattsburgh (NY) students pleaded guilty to hacking coeds’ MyPlattsurgh portal accounts and stealing nude pictures and videos. The portal contains full access to the students’ email, cloud storage, college billing, financial aid, coursework, grades and other personal information. They either guessed passwords or guessed security question answers. When the found nude photos and videos, they traded them with others, in some cases identifying the students by name. They even posted some photos online. Credit: The Register
IRS Warns Tax Pros of Identity Thieves Targeting Them
The IRS is warning tax professionals hackers are trying to steal their electronic tax filing credentials so that they can file fake returns and those returns will be tied to those same tax pros. If you are a tax pro and need help, please contact us. Credit: Bleeping Computer
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