DataBreachToday.com

Also: A Fidelity Breach, Mamba Phishing
This 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

Hotel Chain Also Settles with Federal Trade Commission
The world's largest hotel chain agreed Wednesday to pay $52 million and conduct two decades of third-party monitoring of its cybersecurity program to settle a rash of data breaches affecting millions of guests. The multi-million payout is part of a settlement reached with 50 U.S. attorneys general.

Critical Infrastructure Firms Are Hiring - and Paying Well
As digital transformation continues to reshape industries, the convergence of operational technology and cybersecurity has emerged as a critical area of focus. But there's a noticeable gap in the workforce. Professionals who truly understand both OT and cybersecurity are in short supply.

Justice Department Aiming to Emphasize Privacy and Security in AI Deployment
The U.S. Department of Justice is drafting new guidelines for law enforcement on the use of artificial intelligence and facial recognition tools to enhance public safety while safeguarding civil rights and ensuring ethical deployment, a senior official said Wednesday.

WestCap-Led Funding to Drive Click-Fraud Protection, Ad Integrity Expansion
Human Security's recent $50 million growth funding, led by WestCap, will drive the development of click-fraud defense and enhance advertising integrity solutions. CEO Stu Solomon aims to leverage the funding for scaling the engineering and data science teams, addressing emerging fraud threats.

Hotel Chain Also Settles with Federal Trade Commission
The world's largest hotel chain agreed Wednesday to pay $52 million and agree to two decades of third-party monitoring of its cybersecurity program to settle a rash of data breaches affecting millions of guests. The multi-million payout is part of a settlement reached with 50 U.S. attorneys general.

Cyber Bill Says the Government Can't Use Information to Prosecute Victims
Ransom payments are typically tightly held secrets between cybercriminals and their victims, but the Australian government has introduced a cybersecurity bill in Parliament that would require larger businesses to report ransom payments to the government.

Attackers Use ASCII Characters to Create Tough-to-Spot QR Codes, Barracuda Warns
Attackers are moving beyond using QR code images added to phishing emails to trick victims into visiting malicious sites, and using ASCII "full block" characters to build working QR codes designed to evade optical character recognition defenses, warns cybersecurity firm Barracuda Networks.

Stephen Doughty Says Cybersecurity Vital to National And Economic Security
The British government will continue disruptive actions against ransomware and malware operators, a top U.K. government official vowed Wednesday. Stephen Doughty, Minister of State, said the recently elected U.K. government views security as a core pillar of economic and strategic growth.

Crime Syndicates Too Powerful for Regional Governments to Police, UN Report Warns
Cybercrime syndicates across Southeast Asia have teamed up with human traffickers, money launderers and cryptocurrency services to build an increasingly effective cybercrime ecosystem that can survive law enforcement crackdowns, according to a new United Nations report.

Russia, Iran and China Investing in Cyber Ops, Warns MI5 Director Ken McCallum
Nation-state actors are investing aggressively in advanced cyber operations to target government information and technology in a bid to sow "mayhem on British and European streets," warned a top British intelligence official. Russia, Iran and China are using proxies and hacking agencies.

Kivera Integrates Controls Into Cloudflare One to Prevent Cloud Misconfigurations
With the acquisition of New York-based startup Kivera, Cloudflare will enhance its Cloudflare One platform, adding proactive controls that secure cloud environments, prevent misconfigurations and improve regulatory compliance for businesses using multiple cloud providers.

Russian Nationals, Agencies Engaged in Cyberattacks, Misinformation to be Targeted
The European Council on Tuesday introduced a new sanctions framework to target Russian nationals and organizations engaged in malicious cyber activities such as election misinformation and disruptive cyberattacks. It seeks to address activities such as influence operations and hacking.

Healthcare organizations should rethink some of their approach to security, enhancing focus on insider threats, improving cyber awareness training and securing mobile applications and devices, said Ryan Witt, vice president of industry solutions at Proofpoint, discussing findings of a new study.

Parties Vow to Continue Negotiations
Time ran out for a non-binding takeover bid from the French government for the cybersecurity business of beleaguered Parisian IT consultancy Atos. Among the world's largest managed security service providers, the financially struggling firm is strategically important to the French government.