Security News Update for the Week Ending May 3, 2024

Cyberattack Ramifications: Chain Closes ALL STORES to Contain Attack

Canadian pharmacy chain London Drugs has closed all stores to contain a cyberattack. While many stores stop accepting online orders or credit cards after a cyberattack, it is very rare to see a company stop doing business until further notice. However, they have not notified authorities yet since they don’t have proof that customer information was compromised. Credit: Bleeping Computer

Deepfake of Principal’s Voice: AI Frames Principal

A high school athletic director in Maryland cloned the voice of the school principal and used it to create a fake recording with racist and antisemitic comments. The sound clip was emailed to some teachers and made it to social media. The fake clip forced the principal to go on leave while he was investigated and the police had to guard his house and family. This guy was not a high profile executive or politician. If it can happen to some high school principal because a coach got mad at him, it can happen to anyone. Credit: Security Week

Here is Why Ransomware Attacks Won’t Go Away: 91% of Victims Paid

According to security firm ExtraHop, 58 percent of surveyed organizations globally have experienced six or more ransomware attack ATTEMPTS in the past year and 91 percent of the victims paid at least one ransom. Even though the FBI says not to pay. The average ransom was $2.1 million. Are you one of the 58 percent or the 91 percent? If you need help, contact us. Credit: ZDNet

Microsoft Overhauls Security – Again

In light of the government’s cybersecurity review board report which crucified their security (or lack thereof), security chief Charlie Bell claims that they are making security a top priority, above all else – over all other features. We shall see how that works out. Bell joined Microsoft in 2021, coming from Amazon. Looking at the details, they are saying the right things. They are also linking a part of executive’s paychecks to security progress. Whether they successfully execute is what everyone will be watching. Credit: Security Week

Lawsuits Against AI Companies Continue to Grow

No surprise here. As AI model builders have an insatiable appetite for data, it is not a surprise that they are stretching the legal limits. The eight newspapers, owned by investment firm Alden Global Capital’s MediaNews Group, said Microsoft and OpenAI unlawfully copied millions of their articles to train AI products. They claim that the software can reproduce the articles verbatim and that it hallucinates articles tying them to the newspapers, damaging their reputations. This is going to get a bit ugly. Credit: Cybernews

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