The Cyber Skim: Top Monthly Articles for October 2019

by Dawn Dunkerley
Contributing Editor

ANU cyber attack: How hackers got inside Australia’s top uni – Illawarra Mercury

It’s been compared to Ocean’s Eleven – a cyber attack on Australia’s top university, methodically planned and then adapted on the fly by an “A team” of hackers who cracked into the personal records of 200,000 students and staff and walked away leaving virtually no trace.  

Editors note: Cyber attacks are a global issue. This story indicates that universities – no matter where they reside – are at risk, and that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. 

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MasterMana Botnet Shows Trouble Comes at Low Cost – Dark Reading

For less than $200, attackers were able to infect thousands of systems, stealing user credentials, cryptocurrency wallets, and web histories, an analysis finds. 

Editor’s note: It’s cheap to do damage. Don’t put cyber security off! You’ll pay more in the end.

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Medic! Uncle Sam warns hospitals not to use outdated IPnet freely on their networks The Register- Security

The US Food and Drug Administration is warning hospital IT admins to keep a close eye on their networks following the discovery of security vulnerabilities in a relatively obscure and dated TCP/IP stack – IPnet – used in embedded devices. 

Editor’s note: We must be aware of Operational Technology and the difficulty in patching those systems; otherwise, we need to get it together and prioritize critical assets – these are hospitals! – that must be considered at all cost.

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49% of infosec pros are awake at night worrying about their organization’s cybersecurity – Help Net Security

Six in every ten businesses have experienced a breach in either in the last three years. At least a third of infosec professionals (36%) whose employers had not recently been a victim of a cyber attack also believe that it is likely that they are currently facing one without knowing about it. 

Editor’s note: I am one of those people lying awake at night! While I take my melatonin, I am thankful for the fact that I do understand threats and vulnerabilities across the landscape. The worst scenario awaits the cybersecurity professional who hasn’t put their time and effort into determining their critical assets, the risks, and how to really deal with them in a balanced way. 

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DCH Health Systems hit by ransomware attack, not taking patients – Alabama’s News Leader – Alabama News Leader

Editor’s note: This really is the worst.  When we talk about cyber events, this is the worst-case scenario we hope never happens. Ransomware is heavily targeting cities and their education sector, and the resources are not coming to the rescue. 

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