Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

A U.S. government agency paid $1M to Kairos, a group focused on data theft and extortion rather than ransomware, Ransom-ISAC reports. A new case study from Ransom-ISAC reconstructs a complete data-extortion incident involving a U.S. government body and a threat actor called Kairos, using a leaked negotiation transcript and blockchain tracing of the ransom payment. […]

A U.S. government entity paid about $1 million to keep stolen files from being leaked, according to a new case study by Rakesh Krishnan for Ransom-ISAC, built on a leaked negotiation chat and the blockchain trail the payment left

A newly released study exclusively shared with Dark Reading details the unique circumstances that make up Latin America's labor pool, and why organizations may want to expand their talent search.

Economists Say Data Doesn't Support Fear of Widespread Cognitive Job LossU.S. employment data shows no widespread disruption from generative artificial intelligence nearly three years after ChatGPT's debut, say academics from Yale University. But for certain cohorts, especially early-career workers in AI-vulnerable fields, some cracks are emerging.

MIND Act Asks FTC to Study Exploitation Risks for Neural Data Collected by DevicesAre brain waves and similar neural data the next frontier in consumer privacy worries? A trio of U.S. senators have introduced federal legislation aiming to get ahead of risks that such brain-related data could be collected and misused by tech firms, data brokers, government agencies and others.

Report Urges Indo-Pacific Cyber Shield Strategy Amid Increased Nation-State ThreatsA Center for a New American Security study found China and North Korea are accelerating cyberattacks, influence operations and infrastructure breaches across the Indo-Pacific, as researchers urge the U.S. to help develop a regional cyber shield, and deploy forward cyber teams.

Ukraine has seen nearly one-fifth of its Internet space come under Russian control or sold to Internet address brokers since February 2022, a new study finds. The analysis indicates large chunks of Ukrainian Internet address space are now in the hands of proxy and anonymity services nested at some of America's largest Internet service providers (ISPs).

More than 100 million rely on systems rife with vulnerabilities, says EPA OIG Nearly a third of US residents are served by drinking water systems with cybersecurity shortcomings, the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Inspector General found in a recent study – and the agency lacks its own system to track potential attacks. …

Advertising on TikTok is the obvious choice for any company trying to reach a young market, and especially so if it happens to be a travel company, with 44% of American Gen Zs saying they use the platform to plan their vacations. But one online travel marketplace targeting young holidaymakers with ads on the popular video-sharing platform broke GDPR rules when a third-party partner misconfigured

Researchers Keep Prompts Under WrapsAcademics at a U.S. university found that if you feed a GPT-4 artificial intelligence agent public security advisories, it can exploit unpatched "real-world" vulnerabilities without precise technical information. Researchers said OpenAI asked them not to publish their prompts.

AMA Survey Finds 80% of Practices Lost Revenue From Unpaid ClaimsThe IT services disruptions resulting from the Change Healthcare cyberattack is continuing to have a "devastating" effect on physician practices, threatening the financial viability of many and posing serious implications to patient care, said the American Medical Association in a new study.

Russia, Ukraine, China and US All Top 'First-Ever World Cybercrime Index'A new study published by researchers from the universities of Oxford and New South Wales ranks Russia at the top of a global list of cybercrime hot spots and says Ukraine, China, the United States, Nigeria and Romania are home to a majority of global cybercriminal activity.

Differences in How the United States and United Kingdom Think About CybersecurityThe differences between working in cybersecurity in the U.K. and U.S. are not just a matter of accent or office culture; they are a study in how national security priorities, regulatory environments and cultural attitudes toward privacy and surveillance affect cyber workers' professional lives.

Nearly 1.5 million people work in cybersecurity in North America, but even with a growing gap in skilled specialists, they bear a higher chance of hiring freezes and layoffs.

Staff able to watch customers in the bathroom? Tick! Obviously shabby infosec? Tick! Training AI as an excuse for data retention? Tick! America's Federal Trade Commission has made Amazon a case study for every cautionary tale about how sloppily designed internet-of-things devices and associated services represent a risk to privacy – and made the cost of those actions, as alleged, a mere $30.8 million.…

Countless smartphones seized in arrests and searches by police forces across the United States are being auctioned online without first having the data on them erased, a practice that can lead to crime victims being re-victimized, a new study found. In response, the largest online marketplace for items seized in U.S. law enforcement investigations says it now ensures that all phones sold through its platform will be data-wiped prior to auction.

Cybersecurity is quickly becoming one of the most significant growth drivers for Managed Service Providers (MSPs). That's the main insight from a recent study from Lumu: in North America, more than 80% of MSPs cite cybersecurity as a primary growth driver of their business. Service providers have a huge opportunity to expand their business and win new customers by developing their cybersecurity

Study also reveals enterprises rely on multiple tools to ensure cloud security.