Security News

Americans report losing over $1 billion to cryptocurrency scams
2022-06-03 17:24

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission says Americans have reported losing more than $1 billion worth of cryptocurrency to scams between January 2021 and March 2022. The U.S. law enforcement agency said that tens of thousands of reports pointed to over $1.6 billion in cryptocurrency losses.

Security is a pain for American Dental Association: Ransomware infection feared
2022-05-02 19:50

While the professional association confirmed to The Register it was the victim of a "Cybersecurity incident" that occurred on or around April 21, it did not disclose the nature of the attack. The association also notified federal law enforcement and hired third-party security specialists "To investigate the impact on ADA systems and restore full system functionality," the email said.

American Dental Association hit by new Black Basta ransomware
2022-04-26 18:42

The ADA is a dentist and oral hygiene advocacy association providing training, workshops, and courses to its 175,000 members. Last night, the ADA began emailing its members, including state dental associations, practices, and organizations, with an update about the attack and information that can be shared with the recipient's members.

American Dental Association hit by cyberattack, operations disrupted
2022-04-26 18:42

The ADA is a dentist and oral hygiene advocacy association providing training, workshops, and courses to its 175,000 members. On Friday, the ADA suffered a cyberattack that forced them to take affected systems offline, which disrupted various online services, telephones, email, and webchat.

American Express down in outage: users report login and payment issues
2022-04-02 07:55

The payment services giant advises that some users may continue to experience issues online or over the phone. The issues reported by users included being unable to log in to their Amex accounts, make payments, or get to an Amex customer service representative over the phone.

American Express users locked out for HOURS: no login, no payments
2022-04-02 07:55

Yesterday, American Express users across the world including US, UK, and Europe, experienced widespread outages lasting hours. The issues reported by users included being unable to log in to their Amex accounts, make payments, or get to an Amex customer service representative over the phone.

FTC: Americans report losing over $5.8 billion to fraud in 2021
2022-02-23 13:44

The US Federal Trade Commission said today that Americans reported losses of more than $5.8 billion to fraud during last year, a massive total increase of over 70% compared to the losses reported in 2020. The FTC added a total of roughly 5.7 million consumer reports to its Consumer Sentinel Network secure online database in 2021.

Friday Squid Blogging: South American Squid Stocks Threatened by Chinese Fishing
2022-02-18 22:12

The number of Chinese-flagged vessels in the south Pacific has surged 13-fold from 54 active vessels in 2009 to 707 in 2020, according to the SPRFMO. Meanwhile, the size of China's squid catch has grown from 70,000 tons in 2009 to 358,000. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven't covered.

FTC says Americans lost $547 million to romance scams in 2021
2022-02-10 16:13

The US Federal Trade Commission said that Americans reported record high losses of $547 million to romance scams in 2021, up almost 80% compared to 2020 and over six times compared to losses reported in 2017. Financial losses stemming from romance scams have skyrocketed during recent years, with a total of $1.3 billion lost over the past five years.

U.S. Authorities Charge 6 Indian Call Centers Scamming Thousands of Americans
2022-02-04 01:35

A number of India-based call centers and their directors have been indicted for their alleged role in placing tens of millions of scam calls aimed at defrauding thousands of American consumers. The indictment charged Manu Chawla, Sushil Sachdeva, Nitin Kumar Wadwani, Swarndeep Singh, Dinesh Manohar Sachdev, Gaje Singh Rathore, Sanket Modi, Rajiv Solanki and their respective call centers for conspiring with previously indicted VoIP provider E Sampark and its director, Guarav Gupta, to forward the calls to U.S. citizens.