Petronella Cybersecurity News

After discovering a potentially devastating bug in the code they use in their video cameras, a maker of high-end security cameras, Axis Communications, has taken the lead in patching an issue that, if exploited, would allow the hacker to crash or even take remote control of the device. Hopefully others in the industry will follow […]

In 2009, Vladimir Putin shut down the Russian gambling industry. Not through high taxes or constricting regulations, but he actually made gambling illegal in Russia. The entire gambling industry disappeared overnight because of its ties to Georgian criminals who were thought to be running most casinos. But if you haven’t heard about Russia’s gambling ban […]

The CIA created an app called TideCheck that is a secret vehicle for HighRise malware; malware was designed to seize SMS on Android smartphones, according to a report recently released by Wikileaks. The good news is that this version, dated from back in late 2013, only works on Android versions 4.0-4.3.  It must also be […]

A company wanted to pitch their bug finding code to a big Samsung, and what better way to show the value of a product than to run it on Samsung’s software? When Andrew Karpov of Program Verification Systems checked Samsung Tizen, the open-source Linux-based operating system powering a ton of Samsung products, including TVs, mobile […]

It’s a cautionary tale of why you should make sure any vendors you use are as tight with their security as you are. (Or tighter.) The data, which included names, phone numbers, and PINs of Verizon customers who had called the mobile provider’s customer support in the last six months was left on an Amazon […]

After a $155 million fine levied in May by the Department of Justice (DOJ), and with the threat of a class action lawsuit looming, it appears that eClinicalWorks (eCW) may have learned their lesson.  But is it too little, too late? Doug Brown is a managing partner at Black Book, which is a firm that […]

Cleveland Medical Associates was hit with ransomware back in April and has ordered identity protection service for the roughly 22,000 patients whose identities were at risk. “Wait a second,” you might be saying. “They need to order identity protection service because of ransomware?” Possibly. Regulators are starting to classify ransomware as a data breach, particularly […]

The subprime auto industry is notorious for predatory sales practices. That’s not to say that all sub-prime auto dealers take advantage of people, but when someone has to choose between accepting a high interest rate on a car or not being able to go to work there’s the opportunity. In fact, subprime auto dealers sell […]

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued a code amber warning, the second-highest threat level, discussing the hackers targeting a number of companies that run energy facilities, including nuclear power facilities. It’s not known whether the hackers were attempting to steal industrial secrets or if they’re trying to cause damage to the systems […]

If you’ve read the news in the last year or two, you’ve heard of ransomware. The nefarious malware infects systems, locks away data and doesn’t release it until you’ve paid a ransom in Bitcoins, often a few hundred dollars. This can be a major annoyance for an individual, personal computer user, but it can be disastrous […]

We’ve all seen kids throw tantrums in stores before. No matter how many times their parents shush them or threaten them with timeout, the kid is going to let the entire world know how badly they want that Nerf gun or doll. What if a kid wanted a toy so badly that instead of throwing […]

Jason Pierre-Paul had it good. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the first round of the NFL draft and agreed to a 5 year $20.5 million deal. He lived up to his expectations and was a key player for the Giants until 2015. Pierre –Paul plays defensive end, which means he uses […]

The big news of the week in the cybersecurity world was the NotPetya ransomware pandemic, which hit lots of sectors in lots of countries. One of the victims was DLA Piper, a global corporate lawyer. DLA Piper has thousands of lawyers around the world and represents a number of large corporations, so having their system […]

You’ve surely heard of the most recent worldwide ransomware pandemic by now. While it seems to have hit Ukraine the hardest, infecting government and utility networks, it’s still going strong. US hospitals are the most recent victims. If you think it’s not a big deal to have a computer system held for ransom, tell that […]

It feels like a cyber world war has begun today as computers around the world, including Russia, the UK, Ukraine, the US, and more have been hacked. Victims include the pharmaceutical company Merck, Rosneft (a major Russian oil and gas company), and Ukranian government agencies, including the infamous Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Some cybersecurity firms […]

Remember a month or two ago when everyone was talking about WannaCry? The ransomware shut down hospitals and telecoms all over the world and caused all kinds of chaos, but we haven’t heard a whole lot about it since then. Did it go away? Did WannaCry die? In fact, it did not. WannaCry is alive […]

Whether you’re five years old or have kids that are too old to trick-or-treat, you’ve probably heard about poisoned Halloween candy. Maybe you were told that people put razor blades in apples, or maybe it was cyanide-laced Jolly Ranchers but no matter what you were told you’ve probably completely unwrapped a few pieces of Halloween […]

If there’s one thing you should never doubt, it’s that hackers have no boundaries. These people use human lives as leverage in cyber-attacks on hospitals. Do you think they would leave a company alone just because they’re a non-profit? Non-profits don’t get a pass from hackers because of the work they do. In fact, it’s […]

We reported a few months ago that Russian hackers were able to shut down a Ukrainian power grid, leaving over 200,000 people without electricity. That malware, named CrashOverride, can be modified to attack the US power grid. Malware designed specifically to disrupt power is rare. CrashOverride is actually only the second such malware, the first […]

Realizing how connected every device is is like taking the red pill in the Matrix, nothing will ever look the same again. Every time a family member or friend tells you about their thermostat that automatically adjusts settings based on the weather or the doll they got their child that connects to a database of […]