The federal government charged two Iranian men for orchestrating a nearly three-year-long international hacking and extortion scheme that deployed ransomware which to date has caused more than $30 million in losses to its victims, which include hospitals, municipalities and public institutions.
In-brief: Russian hackers aren’t the biggest threat to the security and integrity of elections says Bev Harris of Black Box Voting. Instead, it’s a more common enemy: run of the mill political corruption, mostly at the local level. Also: Eric Hodge of CyberScout talks about the challenges of helping states secure their election systems. Problem number one: recalcitrant voting machine makers.
In-brief: A federal court has thrown out a class action suit against Michaels Craft Stores, saying that the plaintiff couldn’t prove she was damaged as a result of her information being stolen. The basis for the ruling: a 2013 Supreme Court case concerning the government’s secretive FISA courts.
