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Cyber Attacks

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In Cyber Attacks

Evolve | Anonymous Hackers Resurface

Anonymous Hackers Resurface Amid Civil Unrest In U.S.

 

Notorious Hacking Group “Anonymous” Strikes in Honor of George Floyd

The hacking group Anonymous recently took to Facebook with a video declaring their intent to “expose the many crimes of the Minneapolis Policy Department” to the world, in response to the death of George Floyd.  Shortly after the video surfaced, the Minneapolis Police Department’s website went offline, in what is suspected to be a result of a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack orchestrated by the hackers.  The group proceeded to gain access to the MPD’s primary email account and obtained roughly 800 emails which have now been leaked to the public. 

Anonymous Strikes with a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Cyber Attack

While Anonymous is known for its elaborate hack attacks in response to major world events, the methods that group employs to achieve its goals are not uncommon. Hackers often use Distributed Denial of Service attacks to overflow computer systems with an abundance of data to the point that they are rendered inoperable by legitimate users.  In many cases, DDoS attacks are deployed to interrupt the flow of business operations, with the intent of diverting attention away from hackers while they access sensitive information.  This sensitive data can be sold or traded on the Dark Web.

Is a DDoS Cyber Attack Covered in a Cyber Insurance Policy?

Yes! Evolve’s cyber insurance policy would react to this Anonymous hack in the following ways:

  • Cyber Incident Response – The 1st call in a DDOS claim is to Evolve’s 24/7 forensic expert hotline to stop the hackers in their tracks and get everything back up and running! Forensic experts normally cost $500/hr and work around the clock until everything is fixed. These costs normally range in the tens of thousands of dollars.
  • Legal & Notification Costs – Evolve’s cyber insurance policy would cover the notification of each affected individual, as well as the cost of a data breach attorney. These specialized attorneys normally charge $500/hr to advise the affected business on how to comply with federal, state, and private “privacy” regulatory bodies. Most often, these legal hourly billables far outweigh the cost to notify each individual of their stolen information.
  • System Damage and Business Interruption – Evolve’s business interruption clause would reimburse the Insured for income lost as a direct result of the DDoS attack.  It would also cover the hourly billables to commission a team of employees or outsourced consultants to rebuild any damaged computer systems or data from scratch. These costs can get large if the business depending on the businesses missed sales!
  • Network Security and Privacy Liability – Evolve’s third party liability clause would cover the defense and settlement of a lawsuit (or multiple lawsuits) resulting from lost or stolen sensitive information. 
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In Cyber Attacks

Evolve | Law Firm President Hack

President’s Sensitive Information Stolen in Law Firm Hack

On May 15, the hacking group known as REvil or Sodinokibi announced on the dark web that they have gained access to sensitive information related to several high-profile figures, including President Donald Trump. The hackers attained this information by infiltrating the servers of Grubman, Shire, Meiselas and Sacks law firm. After the firm’s refusal to negotiate with the group, the requested ransom increased from the initial $21 million to $42 million. As of now, details of the stolen information remain unclear, other than that it includes a plethora of email chains involving President Trump. REvil recently leaked 169 emails related to the President as proof of their acquisition. The emails appeared to be harmless, however they intend to release what they claim to be much more detrimental material closer to the 2020 election if the ransom is not paid within the next week.

If Grubman, Shire, Meiselas and Sacks had an Evolve cyber insurance policy, the costs associated with this incident would be covered in many ways, including the following:

  • Cyber Crime – would reimburse the Insured for extorted funds.
  • Reputational Harm – would reimburse the insured for lost income due to post-incident customer loss.
  • Privacy Liability – would cover the defense and settlement costs associated with any claims arising from the data breach.
  • Cyber Incident Response – would cover the costs to commission an IT forensics team, a public relations team, and a legal team to mitigate the incident.
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In Cyber Attacks

Do you know the importance of Super Tuesday?

Evolve | Super Tuesday Blog

Did you know the winner of Super Tuesday is a strong indicator of the likely eventual nominee? 

For those wondering why it’s important, Super Tuesday is an incredibly important day for presidential candidates looking to snatch up valuable votes as it’s an election day in which the greatest number of U.S. states hold primary elections and caucuses.

With this in mind, many states will be utilizing technology to help streamline and progress the voting process today. After last month’s debacle at the Iowa caucus, which resulted in technology failure that caused trust issues for the candidates and 171,000 voters, we can only hope the technology being used today has been double checked for security flaws and secured any threat of attack.

The aging election-related websites could cause a larger problem as a recent investigation by ProPublica found that at least 50 counties or towns voting today are vulnerable to cyber attacks. These vulnerable websites had issues such as outdated software, poor encryption, and systems encumbered with unneeded computer programs. (https://www.propublica.org/article/some-election-related-websites-still-run-on-vulnerable-software-older-than-many-high-schoolers)

It’s worth noting that representatives of different localities were contacted and a majority confirmed that their websites haven’t been disrupted by cyber attacks and are not susceptible to being breached.

Contact Evolve MGA to ensure your network and data are protected in an event of a data breach. We provide a suite of cyber insurance offerings that cover policyholders in the event their cloud data is hacked, lost, or stolen. Get appointed with our cyber insurance specialists for a FREE Quote!

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In Cyber Attacks

Shark Tank Cyber Claim: $400,0000 Wire Transfer Fraud

Evolve | Wire Transfer Fraud

 

Shark Tank star, Barbara Corcoran, wired & lost nearly $400,000 to a hacker in an elaborate email scam that tricked her staff. Corcoran said someone “acting” as her assistant sent an invoice to her bookkeeper earlier this week for a renovation payment. Corcoran is a large investor in the real estate, so when her assistant requested a wire for $388,700, it seemed business as usual.

Unfortunately for the Shark Tank star, the email address requesting the wire didn’t belong to her assistant, it belonged to a hacker! The scammer had changed one letter in the assistant’s actual email address, tricking everyone involved. Corcoran’s response to the attack, “I was upset at first, but then remembered it was only money.” If Corcoran had a quality cyber insurance policy, this claim could have been covered…

Protect Your Business: Cyber Crime Coverage

Strong Cyber Insurance Crime coverage should protect 3 bank accounts: the Insured’s bank account, senior executive officers’ personal bank accounts, & clients bank accounts (3rd party fraud). Buyer beware! Cyber carriers can include “risk management warranties” that require multi factor authentication in order for coverage to be picked up. The best cyber coverage will not have any risk management warranties! 

Contact Evolve MGA to fend off wire transfer fraud scams and ensure your information is kept safe. We provide a suite of cyber insurance offerings that cover policyholders in the event their cloud data is hacked, lost, or stolen. Get appointed with our cyber insurance specialists for a FREE Quote! 

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In Cyber Attacks

Coronavirus Shares Similar Traits to a Malware Attack

Corona Similar to Malware

The Coronavirus hit the city of Wuhan incredibly hard. A city that has a larger population than New York City with 19.5 million people. Reacting to the potential outbreak, the Chinese government quarantined the city to stop it from expanding. (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/coronavirus-quarantine-america-could-be-giant-legal-mess/606595/)

Even after the quarantine, it wasn’t able to stop the overwhelming spread of the virus as it expanded from country to country, including the United States which has confirmed 34 cases of the virus. As of Friday (2/21/20), at least 75,000+ people worldwide have been infected by the virus.

The effects and devastation of the Coronavirus is not to be taken lightly. What’s interesting about the Coronavirus as well as any other destructive person-to-person or airborne viruses are their abilities to spread without haste, affecting those who are unprepared for what it comes with.

With that being said, despite the health effects associated with a deadly virus like the coronavirus, we find that malware viruses have similar traits in the sense that it can move quickly from one device to another or from one network to another without much friction.

When it comes to data security, you need to treat your mobile devices, computers, networks, and servers similarly as you’d treat your health. Even though mobile devices can be difficult to cover in a traditional network or data security model, we highly recommend fitting them into your security framework. It’s crucial to include them under your cyber security umbrella!

Contact Evolve MGA to fend off mobile malware scams and ensure your information is kept safe. We provide a suite of cyber insurance offerings that cover policyholders in the event their cloud data is hacked, lost, or stolen. Get appointed with our cyber insurance specialists for a FREE Quote! 

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In Cyber Attacks

Five Years Later, Ashely Madison Breach Strikes AGAIN!

Evolve MGA Cyber Insurance

It’s been five years since one of the most notorious cyber attacks in history; however, the scandal is not done yet as the 37 million people exposed are being extorted by a new scam.

To recap the breach in July 2015, a group called “The Impact Team” gained access to Ashley Madison’s database of users’ private information including personal information, nude photographs, banking information, and other private information. For anyone who used the platform, this was their worst nightmare. Despite users engaging in promiscuous behavior on the platform, having your most private information available to the internet is never acceptable.

However, this data breach is far from over for those users involved in the initial Ashley Madison breach. The most recent extortion attempt is targeting the 37 million exposed with highly personalized emails utilizing data from the breach to show validity to their attempt to expose them.

To instill credibility, the attackers have encrypted their demands within a password protected PDF to bypass potential email spam traps in order to reach the user’s inboxes. The email contains their private conversations, images, and a message that demands a fiscal ransom. Failure to pay will result in a release of private information for the world to see.

More details of this cyber attack will follow.

For those who are looking to protect their businesses (or client’s businesses) from similar cyber attacks, should contact Evolve MGA.
We provide a suite of cyber insurance offerings that cover policyholders in the event their cloud data is hacked, lost, or stolen. Get appointed with our cyber insurance specialists for a FREE Quote here!

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In Cyber Attacks

Did you know that last year, over $20 billion dollars was spent on love?

Valentines Day Cyber Attack

Happy Valentine’s Day! Did you know that last year, over $20 billion dollars was spent on love?

Restaurants, retailers, online dating sites, you name it, are all looking for you to spend your money at their place of business hoping to cash in on the invaluable cost of love. Unfortunately, cyber criminals can smell the scent of desperation in the air and harp on your punch-drunk decision making.

Security researchers found that during holidays such as V-Day, consumers are more likely to click on phishing emails and scams looking for cupid’s best deals, ultimately risking it all for love.

Just because consumers are clicking the buttons, doesn’t mean businesses are not affected. Remember, your client’s employees are also consumers…and they are often times online shopping on the company network.

Love shouldn’t come at the expense of your personal or business info being exposed to the dark web.

Avoid falling victim from a phishing attack with Evolve MGA. We provide a suite of cyber insurance offerings that cover policyholders in the event their cloud data is hacked, lost, or stolen. Get appointed with our cyber insurance specialists for a FREE Quote!

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In Cyber Attacks

Iowa caucus debacle shakes public confidence in 2020 security

Iowa Caucuses Voting

Last week, the Iowa Democratic Party experienced multiple days of panic for the due to technology failure in the polling system that caused dismay for the candidates and the 171,000 voting participants. The scare was due to the failure of a mobile application that was tracking the election results.

In turn, this created controversy around the final voting counts as the committee was forced to use rudimentary ways to calculate votes. The delayed results caused distrust within the Iowa communities as election tampering theories started stirring. The biggest security lesson from last week’s Iowa caucuses: unproven voting technology can not only cause distrust amongst patrons, but also provides opportunity for future cyber attacks.

Per reports, the tech utilized for the caucus was not battled test enough and ultimately was rushed in order to make an appearance. Getting this right is imperative for the success of digital balloting.

Evolve MGA offers cyber insurance that cover policyholders in the event their cloud data is hacked, lost, or stolen. Get appointed with our cyber insurance specialists for a FREE Quote!

If you’d like to read more about this data breach, click here

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In Cyber Attacks

Did you know cyber attacks can increase by 60% during the holiday season?

Cyber Attacks During Holiday

Did you know cyber attacks can increase by 60% during the holiday season?

Here’s why:

1. Hackers wait to hit on holidays when security staffing is low. As most companies will have security teams understaffed over the holiday period, this gives attackers a better chance of breaching networks — and crucially, decrease the chance of being spotted if they do make their way in or deliver malware.

2. Attackers use phishing methods that employ fake promotional websites. It’s likely that employees are more likely to travel and work remotely during the holiday season, so they can be more easily targeted with phishing emails — especially ones that are related to travel bookings or gift orders.

How can you protect your business (or clients):

1. Evaluate the email’s basic hygiene (grammar & spelling mistakes)

2. Increase levels of network monitoring and related security measures during the holiday season

3. Use extreme caution when viewing email’s asking for personal and financial info.

4. Avoid downloading unsolicited email attachments

5. Most importantly, get protected with Evolve MGA’s cyber insurance.

Evolve MGA offers cyber insurance that covers policyholders in the event their cloud data is hacked, lost, or stolen. Get appointed with our cyber insurance specialists for a FREE Quote!

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In Cyber Attacks

New Year’s Resolution: Avoid Being Low-Hanging Fruit

NYE Resolution

New Year’s Resolution: Avoid being low-hanging fruit for cybercriminals.

The easiest targets are businesses that do not invest in proper cyber security, employee training, up-to-date technology, and an industry leading cyber policy. In November, cybercriminals successfully besieged an IT company in Wisconsin through a ransomware attack and gained unauthorized access to more than 100 nursing homes across the United States. The IT company, which provides cloud data hosting, cyber security, and access management to the care centers, admitted that crucial patient medical records were inaccessible after the ransomware attack occurred. In turn, this attack put many patients at severe health risk. To make matters worse, not only were the nursing homes and patients severely affected by this cyber attack, but the CEO of the IT company fears this incident could soon lead to the closure of her business.

Avoid being low-hanging fruit.

Evolve MGA offers cyber insurance that covers policyholders in the event their cloud data is hacked, lost, or stolen. Get appointed with our cyber insurance specialists for a FREE Quote!

If you’d like to read more about this data breach, click here.

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