The Finance Department of California has been hit by a ransomware attack. The breach, confirmed on 12 December by the Cybersecurity Integration Center (Cal-CSIC), is one of the latest in a trend of attacks targeting government institutions and critical industries. Within hours, the attack was claimed by Russian-backed ransomware gang LockBit. In a blog post claiming responsibility, LockBit said they had accessed various networks and servers, stealing sensitive personal and legal data totalling 76GB. LockBit initially gave the Finance Department until 24 December to pay a ransom before they will begin to leak data.

Researchers have taken down an established DDoS botnet by accident. The security team from Akamai made the breakthrough by mistake when analysing threats, according to a report. Members of the Akamai Security Intelligence Response Team (SIRT) were analysing the KmsdBot malware behind the botnet, which was using infected devices to mine for cryptocurrency and target web servers with DDoS attacks. SIRT were able to study the malware as it had infected one of their honeypot servers. While investigating, SIRT sent commands to the bot to test its capabilities – accidentally creating a syntax error that took the entire botnet offline.

Forbes have named their top cybersecurity trends of 2023. As weak credentials threaten critical industries and cybersecurity moves up to the director level, we see several recent trends continuing into the next year:

• 1. IoT, cloud and connected devices will need even more security measures to secure critical infrastructure.
• 2. Businesses and organisations will have to work more to secure remote employees, including protecting them from vulnerable devices and weak login credentials.
• 3. State-sponsored attackers will begin to target businesses as well as national infrastructure to influence national foreign policy.
• 4. Artificial intelligence will continue to play a bigger role in cybersecurity, helping to speed up intrusion detection systems and essential security tools.
• 5. Organisations will have to build a security-first culture to avoid attacks, educating workforces on essential security practices while using security tools to protect key resources.

While none of these trends are new, they show the ongoing need for businesses and critical infrastructure to take stronger measures to protect their systems.

The UK’s Department for Education has been reprimanded by the data protection regulator after it gave improper access to identifying information on up to 28 million children. The department gave personal data to employment screening company Trustopia during 2018 and 2020. It was later found by the Information Commissioner’s Office to be a breach of data protection law. In ordinary circumstances, the department would have been charged £10 million in fines, but the ICO made an exception so as to avoid extra pressure on public sector cash flows.

Following the revelations of the Medibank ransomware data breach, Australia’s cyber security minister is considering a law to make it illegal to pay ransoms. Clare O’Neil praised Medibank’s decision not to pay the ransom, warning that we cannot expect hackers to delete the data. She announced a new Australian task force, including a cyber spy agency, which will use expert hackers to disrupt criminal attacks. She said: “What they will do is scour the world, hunt down the criminal syndicates and gangs that target Australia in cyberattacks, and disrupt their efforts.”

The healthcare cyber security market could hit $70.55 billion by 2030, according to Brainy Insights. Ongoing threats to the healthcare sector include malware and ransomware. Meanwhile, there has been increased investment in healthcare spending, with stakeholders keen to protect patient confidentiality. The new figures have also been pinned on increased device usage including internet of things devices and mobiles, which rose considerably during the pandemic.