Security News > 2021
A top Biden administration official says the government is undertaking a new effort to help electric utilities, water districts and other critical industries protect against potentially damaging cyberattacks. The public-private partnership reflects the administration's concerns about the vulnerability of vital systems, including the electric grid and water treatment plants, to hacks that could cause catastrophic consequences to American life.
The computer system of one of the nation's largest school districts was hacked by a criminal gang that encrypted district data and demanded $40 million in ransom or it would erase the files and post students' and employees' personal information online. Broward County Public Schools said in a statement Thursday that there is no indication that any personal information has been stolen and that it made no extortion payment to the ransomware gang, which as an apparent pressure tactic last week posted screenshots of its online negotiations with the district to its site on the dark web.
To help people work smarter, combat burnout and drive more inclusive work experiences, Cisco Webex announced advancements to the People Insights feature. "These insights enable a more inclusive work experience and empowers our people to develop and leverage their collective collaboration network, while helping leaders act at the intersection of performance, empathy, and service to others to build connected and effective teams."
Platform9 announced its latest version of the Platform9 Managed Kubernetes product. The SaaS Managed Kubernetes with IPv6 support for 5G deployments boasts several advanced networking technologies and support capabilities to optimize 5G service delivery, offers the ability to centrally connect and manage AWS EKS clusters, and unifies management of virtual machines and containers.
The new licensing makes it more profitable for service providers to design and offer a comprehensive cyber protection services portfolio with little to no upfront costs. With this announcement, the company's current Acronis Cyber Backup Cloud will be extended with cyber protection capabilities - including the company's backup, anti-malware, and protection management - and renamed Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud.
DTEX Systems announced enhancements to DTEX InTERCEPT for critical infrastructure entities - a workforce cybersecurity solution specifically created to address the user activity monitoring requirements of public and private oil and gas, electric, water, telecommunications and healthcare organizations with headquarters in the Five Eyes countries. According to a recent report by The National Counterintelligence and Security Center of the United States of America titled, Insider Threat Mitigation for U.S. critical infrastructure entities: Guidelines from an Intelligence Perspective, "Foreign adversaries are no longer simply targeting the U.S. government, as was often the case during the Cold War, but today are using their sophisticated intelligence capabilities against a much broader set of targets, including U.S. critical infrastructure and other private sector and academic entities. These U.S. industries and academic organizations are now squarely in the geopolitical battlespace."
Cisco announced its strategy to help communication service providers and web scale companies around the world connect, secure and automate their networks to deliver a stronger, more accessible internet to everyone, everywhere, regardless of geographic limitations. Answering the call, Cisco designed its Converged SDN Transport, an innovative blueprint designed to help service providers converge multiple networks into a common, cost efficient and secure infrastructure with enormous scale.
Inseego announced that its Wavemaker PRO 5G indoor router FX2000e has been certified for use in several markets globally. This plug-and-play fixed wireless solution provides 5G/LTE broadband with ethernet and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity for up to 32 devices, making it ideal for small businesses and distributed employees who need fast, reliable and highly secure internet access.
Ericsson has established the Ericsson Open Lab, a new space to collaborate and innovate with leading Ericsson Cloud RAN customers and ecosystem partners to drive virtualized 5G Radio Access Networks technologies. Ericsson Open Lab enables fast and interactive collaboration that delivers innovation to complement existing RAN solutions.
The census happens in any year ending in the digit -1, making 2021 a census year. If you're amongst those who haven't finished off their census submissions yet, but who keep meaning to get around to it, make sure you don't fall prey to fake "Census reminder" notices sent out by cybercriminals!