This week brought news of disturbing implications from a ransomware breach of the Minneapolis school district, plus important breakthroughs from security researchers and leaders across the cybersecurity industry — from disrupting Iranian election-hacking operations to protecting users against deepfakes.
In a tragic fallout from a school district ransomware breach, NBC News investigated what happens when hackers target children, exposing highly sensitive documents of some students who were victims of alleged abuser and teacher misconduct. Meanwhile, at the RSA cybersecurity conference, security researchers thwarted Gootloader malware, the executive director of the NSA warned industry players to “buckle up,” and Google Cloud teamed up with Intel to hunt down security vulnerabilities. Also discussed was the potential political impact of deepfakes and U.S. legislation designed to prohibit children under the age of 13 from having social media accounts.
Meta is the parent company of two social media services — Facebook and Instagram — which have been used as hunting grounds for child predators. The Guardian reported that many victims of child sexual exploitation and trafficking have been as young as 11 or 12 years old, and are typically from Black, Latinx, and LGBTQ+ communities.
Finally, hackers have been stealing cryptocurrencies from AT&T email users by gaining access to AT&T’s internal network and generating “mail keys” for email accounts. It’s estimated that these hackers have stolen up to $15 million in crypto.
Ransomware gangs have become increasingly active in recent years, and this incident highlights the need for improved cybersecurity measures to prevent such breaches from occurring. Together, industry leaders, government officials, and everyday users must work towards a future of secure and safe systems. The companies involved should also strive to be more transparent and accountable in how they handle such incidents. Additionally, more awareness must be raised in order to educate people on their digital privacy rights and on the importance of good security practices.
