Cybersecurity in the News

This project required us to complete CCBC's Cybersecurity training and finding two reliable articles of cybersecurity examples in the news. The topics I choose for the cybersecurity examples are, ransomware attack and hacking. 

Children's Data Hacked After School Software Firm Missed Basic Security Step, Internal Report Says

PowerSchool, a top education technology provider used in over 35 states by K-12 schools, suffered a serious data breach that had the possibility of compromising up to 62 million student's personal information, after an employee's password, without multi-factor authentication ended up in the hands of hackers. Personal information in the form of name, birthdate, address, as well as other sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, were compromised. This breach highlights the urgent need for preventive measures such as implementing multi-factor authentication on all accounts, frequent security audits, thorough employee cybersecurity training, and establishing minimum security standards. Schools should also improve screening of third-party businesses handling sensitive student information in order to prevent such breaches in the future.

This article reports a ransomware attack on Change Healthcare, a major medical payment processor for UnitedHealth. The attack reportedly resulted in a $22 million bitcoin payment. Many independent clinics, hospitals and pharmacies were affected by this attack. This resulted in patients paying out-of-pocket for their medications. In order to prevent such kind of attacks in the future, healthcare organizations need stronger cybersecurity infrastructure. This can be achieved by implementing mandatory security standards, regular system updates, an increase in funding and dedicated security staff for healthcare organizations.