10 Big Cybersecurity News Stories In 2024 Midmarket IT Leaders Should Know
Security dominated tech news this year.
Cybersecurity incidents dominated much of the tech-related news in 2024. Cyber threats – breaches, ransomware, business email compromises, and every other digital scam you can think of – are steadily rising as adversaries up their digital warfare on businesses, politicians, nations, and individuals.
MES Computing compiled a list of some of the biggest cybersecurity news stories in 2024, which includes reporting from our sister sites Computing and CRN.
10 Biggest Cybersecurity News In 2024
Microsoft Says Senior Executives Hacked By Russian Group
January 19, 2024 from CRN: Microsoft discloses that a Russia-aligned threat actor was able to steal emails from members of its senior leadership team as well as from employees on its cybersecurity and legal teams.
Cybercriminal Group Claims Responsibility For Change Healthcare Attack
February 28, 2024 from CRN: The cybercriminal group known by the names of Blackcat and Alphv claims responsibility for the disruptive cyberattack against Change Healthcare, a unit of UnitedHealth Group’s Optum subsidiary.
Breach Exposes 73M AT&T Customers' Personal Info
April 2, 2024 from Computing: AT&T confirms a massive data breach impacting 73 million current and former customers, whose personal information has been leaked onto the dark web.
The breach, which includes Social Security numbers, passcodes and contact details, has raised concerns over the security measures of one of the largest networks in the United States.
The breach includes data from approximately 7.6 million existing account holders and nearly 65.4 million former users.
Amid Concerns Over Infrastructure Safety, Congress Questions Dam Cybersecurity
April 12, 2024: A congressional hearing raises concerns about the cybersecurity risks of U.S. dams. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon led the hearing and mentioned the lack of cybersecurity auditing of dams.
"Today the subcommittee is being told by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which licenses 2,500 dams that the responsible dams for well over half the nonfederal power generation have not received a cybersecurity audit," he said.
Ticketmaster: Data Of Half A Billion Customers Hacked, Report
May 30, 2024 from Computing: The personal data of 560 million Ticketmaster customers is allegedly exposed in a massive data breach. Hacker group ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was selling the data on a hacking forum. The group says it has obtained full names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, ticket purchase details and partial payment data, including the last four digits of credit card numbers and card expiration dates, of up to 560 million people.
This Sector Saw A 136% Surge In Cyberattacks In One Year: Report
May 31, 2024: Cyberattacks in the health care vertical increased 136%, according to a report from SOAX, a data collection services company.
The report was compiled using data from the Identity Theft Resource Center's monitoring of data violation incidents.
From 2022 to 2023, the health care sector saw a jump in data violations from 343 to 809 incidents – a 136 percent increase. Fifty-six million victims in health care were affected, according to the report.
Surge In Global Ransomware Attacks As LockBit Returns
June 21, 2024 from Computing: In a notable development within the ransomware landscape, LockBit 3.0 resurfaced as the leading threat actor. Previously dormant following a takedown, LockBit 3.0 accounted for 37 percent of all attacks in May, a staggering 665 percent month-on-month increase from 176 attacks. Play, which held the top position previously, was relegated to second place with 32 attacks (7 percent), while RansomHub maintained third position with 22 attacks (5 percent), a 19 percent decrease from the previous month.
Remote Access Firm TeamViewer Hit By Russian Intelligence Cyberattack
July 1, 2024 from Computing: TeamViewer, the German software company behind the widely used remote access and management tool of the same name, discloses that it detected a suspicious activity within its internal IT environment on June 26. The company said it immediately activated its security protocols and launched an investigation with the help of cybersecurity experts.
Malicious Python Packages Found Exfiltrating User Data To Telegram Bot
July 16, 2024 from Computing: Researchers at security vendor Checkmarx uncover an operation, apparently based in Iraq, that uses malware hosted on the Python repository PyPI to search for files on the victim's device and exfiltrate them to a Telegram bot.
Kaspersky Exiting US Market After Ban
July 18, 2024: Kaspersky's move to exit the U.S. market comes in the wake of the federal government's plan to ban sales of the company's antivirus (AV) software, effective July 20, amid national security concerns because of the company's ties to Moscow.