Security News Update for October 25, 2024

Global Police Crackdown Arrests 5,000, Shuts Down Sites

A global police crackdown in June and July against illegal sports gambling led to thousands of arrests and website shutdowns while also disrupting scam centers and their related human trafficking and money laundering operations, Interpol reported Thursday. They arrested 5,100 people, recovered $59 million in proceeds and shut down tens of thousands of illegal gambling sites. Before you say it is just online gambling, these operations are staffed with human trafficking victims and launder money for crooks. Credit: The Record

China Accuses Intel of Inserting Back Door for NSA

If we ignore, for a moment, the sheer gall of China complaining about us inserting back doors, there is no way to know if this is true. They are going to “investigate” Intel over the claims of back doors, vulnerabilities and high failure rates. China is certainly no one to talk about these kinds of problems, but it is a way for China to steel more IP from Intel, if they want to do business in China. Credit: The Register

Lawmakers Ask DoJ to Prosecute Tax Prep Firms for Sharing Data

Democratic lawmakers are asking the Department of Justice to prosecute major tax preparation firms for sharing customers’ sensitive personal and financial data with Google and Meta, the latter of whom they say used the information for advertising and to train its artificial intelligence algorithm. The tax prep firms were not (yet) named. They released millions of taxpayers’ tax return data, meaning they could face billions of dollars in criminal liability. The maximum fine is $1,000 per violation. Credit: The Record

Microsoft Sees 300% Surge in Healthcare Ransomware Attacks

Microsoft says nearly 400 US healthcare organizations have been hit by ransomware attacks this year, causing, in many cases, months-long disruptions and huge costs. Ransoms alone, they say, are averaging over $4 million and recovery is costing them up to $900,000 (and likely more). But here is the important part.

At four hospitals, ransomware attacks increased waiting room time by almost 50%, increased the number of confirmed strokes by 113% and cardiac arrests went up by 81%.

But every time a hospital announces an attack, they claim patient care didn’t suffer. Unless you are a stroke or heart attack victim, I guess. Credit: Dark Reading

Letter From Congress Warns Against Chinese Drone Use

The U.S. House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party sent a letter last month to Fairfax County, Virginia, the biggest county in the D.C. area. The letter warned that Chinese made drones are “a threat to the national and economic security of the United States”. Chinese drone maker DJI owns more than 70 percent of the market. That market is expected to be around $55 billion by 2030. The problem is that there really is no reasonable alternative to DJI and the cost of what alternatives exist make them unaffordable. So, what the committee is effectively saying is, we know that drones are very important but sorry, don’t use them. This is not going to, as they say, fly. Credit: Route Fifty

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