Another report by Lawrence Abrams today: Chemical distribution company Brenntag paid a $4.4 million ransom in Bitcoin to the DarkSide ransomware gang to receive a decryptor for encrypted files and prevent the threat actors from publicly leaking stolen data. Brenntag is a world-leading chemical distribution company headquartered in Germany but with over 17,000 employees...

Lawrence Abrams reports: A new ransomware operation known as Lorenz targets organizations worldwide with customized attacks demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars in ransoms. The Lorenz ransomware gang began operating last month and has since amassed a growing list of victims whose stolen data has been published on a ransomware data leak site. Michael...

Riley Chloe reports that Gary, Indiana is trying to recover from a ransomware attack. All of its servers are now being restored and rebuilt. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security were both alerted and a city spokesperson says they’re still investigating if anyone’s personal information was stolen. “If we discover that any...

Yomiuri Shimbun reports: A failure in a cloud computing system provided by U.S.-based IT company Salesforce.com Inc. paralyzed COVID-19 vaccination reservation systems operated by local governments across Japan on Wednesday. In another issue regarding services provided by Salesforce, it has been found that personal information stored by dozens of municipalities and companies in...

Lael Bellamy and Emily Maus of DLA Piper write: Georgia’s governor has signed into law House Bill 156, creating specific notice requirements for state agencies and utilities that experience cybersecurity attacks, data breaches or malware and requiring notice to the state director of emergency management in Georgia within two hours of notifying the federal...

The following statement refers to the Executive Order signed by President Biden. The full text of the Executive Order can be found here. White House – Today, President Biden signed an Executive Order to improve the nation’s cybersecurity and protect federal government networks. Recent cybersecurity incidents such as SolarWinds, Microsoft Exchange, and the Colonial...