Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

Mandiant: 68% of Targets Were Higher Ed Institutions Running PeopleSoftShinyHunters exploited a critical zero-day in Oracle PeopleSoft to breach more than 100 organizations globally, researchers at Mandiant and Google's Threat Intelligence Group said, with universities and colleges accounting for the majority of confirmed targets in the active extortion campaign.

Ransomware Group ShinyHunters' Victims: Schools, Universities, Ambulance ServiceThe Canvas learning management system with over 30 million active K-12 and higher-education student and teacher users worldwide has been breached by attackers, leading to operator Instructure temporarily taking the service offline. Cue homework and exam scheduling chaos.

Also, Medusa Ransomware, Grafana Flaw, German Political Party BreachThis week, German police unmasked a REvil leader, a critical Docker flaw, Medusa ransomware surged, DPRK hackers abused GitHub, Grafana AI bugs enabled data theft, scams hit $20B in the United States, Ivanti exploited and attacks hit Northern Ireland schools and a German political party.

Health Info in Mix With Compromised Data in Latest Breach Hitting a SchoolA for-profit university with campuses in New York and the Caribbean is notifying nearly 321,000 individuals of a December 2024 data theft incident that compromised their personal and health information. Monroe University is among the latest educational institutions disclosing hacks.

Plan Calls for Updated HIPAA Regs, Grants, Training, Enhanced Breach Reporting DataFour U.S. lawmakers - including the chair of the Senate health, education, labor and pensions committee - are taking another stab with a bipartisan bill aimed at strengthening cybersecurity in healthcare. That includes bolstering HIPAA, and providing cyber grants and training to the sector.

Central Jersey Medical Center Runs Health Centers for Schools in NewarkCentral Jersey Medical Center, a federally qualified health center that partners with public schools in Newark, New Jersey, is notifying an undisclosed number of people of a data breach related to an August ransomware attack. The incident is latest to hit a resourced-stretched healthcare provider.

Ravin Academy Records Reveal Identities of More Than 1,000 ParticipantsA public database of internal records from Iran's Ravin Academy - a cyber school linked to the Ministry of Intelligence - has been published online, exposing potentially sensitive data on over 1,000 trainees, including individuals reportedly tied to Western institutions.

Experts Warn Funding Gaps Elevate Cyber RiskA breach of Columbia University’s IT systems after repeated attacks by U.S. President Donald Trump is highlighting how universities are unprepared for today’s threat landscape. Schools often leave campuses without enough resources for strong cyber defenses.

Also, M&S Back Online, Mexican Education Platform Breached, Patch TuesdayThis week, a Roundcube flaw, Mexican student data hacked and Dutch cops scare straight Cracked users. Man imprisoned for hacking tax preparers. M&S update. UNFI ships on a limited basis. U.K. financial regulator staffers used personal emails. Weak web panel security on GPS devices. Patch Tuesday.

Also, Baltimore Public Schools Suffer Data Breach, Disney Menu Hacker SentencedThis week, zero-day exploits surged, accused Nefilim hacker extradited, Baltimore schools breach, CISA lists Broadcom Brocade, Commvault flaws, a fake WooCommerce patch, Akira hit Hitachi Vantara, ex-Disney worker sentenced and a Darcula phishing kit upgrade. FBI published 42,000 phishing domains.

Customers Question Why PowerSource Support Tool Had Direct Access to Their SystemsEducational software-maker PowerSchool faces over 20 lawsuits seeking class-action status, filed in the wake of a massive data breach involving current and former student and faculty data being held by an as-yet-unknown number of school districts across the U.S., Canada and Bermuda.

Cybercrime History Teaches That Paying a Ransom for Data Deletion is FoolishData breach victim PowerSchool, maker of a widely used K-12 student information system platform, has been attempting to assure schools, and parents and guardians, by saying its attacker has promised to delete the stolen data. What's the old saying about those who fail to learn from history?

Also: A Fidelity Breach, Mamba PhishingThis week, the Global Signal Exchange hopes to dent online crime, a Fidelity data breach, phishing platform targets Microsoft 365 users, October Patch Tuesday, Pavel Durov said he's always cooperated with police, Highline Public Schools and CreditRiskMonitor updates, ADT and Casio suffered breaches

New Security Measures Follow High-Profile Hacks of Snowflake CustomersData warehousing platform Snowflake rolled out default MFA - as well as a 14-character password minimum - to shore up security in the wake of a series of cyberattacks in June that hit high-profile customers including Santander Bank, Advance Auto Parts, LA Unified School District and Neiman Marcus.

Also: Critical WHOIS Vulnerability Exposes Internet Security Flaw in .mobi DomainsThis week, cyberthreats rising in Mexico; FBI warned of BEC scams; U.K. police arrested hacking suspect; Avis, Slim CD, Medicare and Fortinet disclosed breaches; Highline public schools reopened after cyberattack; a critical flaw was found in WHOIS; and Konni upped attacks on Russia, South Korea.

More Victims of Campaign Against Data Warehousing Platform Snowflake Come to LightAdd luxury department store chain Neiman Marcus and the Los Angeles Unified School District to the list of known victims of a cybercrime that accessed accounts at cloud-based data warehousing platform Snowflake. Other victims include Santander Bank and Live Nation Entertainment's Ticketmaster.

Also: Turla Targets European Missions and Google Patches Chrome Zero-DaysThis week, hackers used a Linus backdoor and a Microsoft client management tool; Santander Bank, the Helsinki Education Division, an Australian energy provider and auction house Christie's were breached; hackers targeted European missions in the Middle East; and Google patched a zero-day flaw.