Kirk was executive editor for security and technology for Information Security Media Group. Reporting from Sydney, Australia, he created "The Ransomware Files" podcast, which tells the harrowing stories of IT pros who have fought back against ransomware.
A WannaCry outbreak has hit unpatched Windows 7 systems at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., crippling its factories. The world's largest chipmaker, which traced the infection to a new software tool that it failed to scan for malware before installation, says the outbreak could cost it $170 million.
The chief security officer for the U.S. Democratic Party is recommending that all party officials avoid using mobile devices made by Chinese manufacturers ZTE and Huawei. Bob Lord says that even if devices from those manufacturers are free or low cost, no one wants to be the next "patient zero."
Attackers have targeted a patched vulnerability to exploit more than 209,000 carrier-grade routers made by Latvian manufacturer MicroTik and infect them with two types of malware - Coinhive and Crypto-Loot - designed to mine for cryptocurrency, security researchers say.
Three Ukrainian men who were allegedly part of a hacking gang that stole more than 15 million payment card records from U.S. businesses, sold the data in underground markets and enabled at least $12.4 million in fraud have been arrested in Germany, Poland and Spain at the request of the U.S.
With Australia's data breach reporting law now in effect, its healthcare sector has recently reported the highest number of data breaches - a finding that is sure to intensify the already intense scrutiny of the country's controversial e-health records project.
A large Midwestern health network says a successful phishing campaign exposed a raft of personal and medical data stored in its email systems. The count of affected victims numbers 1.4 million, although investigators believe stealing personal data was not the attackers' goal.
RoboCent, a company that specializes in robocalling voters, left nearly 3,000 files containing detailed data about Virginia voters online by mistake. The data has been secured, but the incident points again to ongoing problems of security misconfigurations in repositories and lack of end-to-end encryption.
A Spanish consumer rights organization says telecommunications company Telefónica has fixed an elementary security error in its Movistar website that potentially exposed billing invoices for millions of customers. Telefónica says it hasn't detected fraudulent use of the data.
Timehop, the social media app that resurfaces older social media posts for entertainment, says its ongoing investigation has revealed that an attacker may have compromised more personal information than it previously suspected over the course of a breach that lasted at least seven months.
An Australian company that issues identity cards for access to airports has been notifying applicants and cardholders that their personal information may have been compromised, according to a news report. Australian federal police are investigating.
Magecart, the criminal group behind the recent data breach at certain Ticketmaster websites, may have also hit the company's sites in Australia, New Zealand, Turkey and Hungary, according to RiskIQ, which says the group's digital payment card skimmers may also affect as many as 800 other e-commerce sites.
Attackers have stolen $23.5 million in cryptocurrency from Bancor, which is developing a decentralized exchange. The cause of the hack may have been a failure by Bancor to protect authentication keys that allowed for changes in its token smart contracts.
Timehop, an application that revives older social media posts, says the lack of multifactor authentication on a cloud services account led to a data breach affecting 21 million users. The breach exposed names, email addresses, phone numbers and access tokens Timehop used to read information from accounts.
Australian medical booking platform HealthEngine offered AU$25 (US$19) gift vouchers to dental patients who sent photos of their treatment invoices to the company, which it positioned to patients as "invaluable" research. Privacy experts say the company may have fallen afoul of Australian privacy guidelines.
The U.K. has approved a plan to build a cutting-edge court complex in London designed to handle cybercrime, fraud and economic crime. The facility is expected to be a growth driver for the country's legal industry, despite the U.K.'s pending withdrawal from the European Union.
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