Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

Cybersecurity - hacking - hackerBloomberg reports that a proposed class-action lawsuit was filed against Equifax Inc. late Thursday evening, shortly after the company reported that an unprecedented hack had compromised the private information of about 143 million people.

The law firms filing the suit are Olsen Daines PC and Geragos & Geragos, a celebrity law firm known for blockbuster class actions. Reporter Polly Mosendz writes that Ben Meiselas, an attorney for Geragos, said the class will seek as much as $70 billion in damages nationally.

In the security breach, hackers are believed to have accessed Social Security numbers, addresses, driver’s license data, and birth dates. Some credit card information was also put at risk.

Read the Bloomberg article.

 

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Ransomware Takes Hollywood Hospital Offline, $3.6M Demanded by Attackers

Computer cybersecurityThe computers at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center have been down for more than a week as the Southern California hospital works to recover from a Ransomware attack, reports CSO.

Officials at HPMC said they’re cooperating fully with the Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI in an effort to discover the identity of the attackers. But for now the network is offline and staff are struggling to deal with the loss of email and access to some patient data, the report says.

“The type of Ransomware responsible for shutting down the hospital remains unknown, but one local computer consultant said the ransom being demanded was about 9,000 BTC [Bitcoin], or just over $3.6 million dollars,” according to the report.

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HSBC Says It Successfully Defended Attack on Online Banking System

CybersecurityHSBC says it “successfully defended” an attack on its online banking system on Jan. 29 but services were disrupted on a key day for many people’s personal finances, reports The Guardian.

HSBC customers were locked out of internet banking for several hours after the company was targeted by online criminals in a denial of service attack.

The bank said it was working with the authorities to “pursue the criminals responsible.”

Read the article.