NICOLE PERLROTH | The Seattle Times

A farm in Maurice, Iowa, July 26, 2020. An Iowa grain cooperative, NEW Cooperative, experienced ransomware assaults in September 2021. A team of private security sleuths, in their first public detailing of their efforts, discuss how they used cybercriminals’ mistakes to quietly help victims recover their data. (Jenn Ackerman/The New York Times)

November 1, 2021 at 6:01 am

With ransomware on the rise, a rare win saves firms millions

In a year rife with ransomware attacks, when cybercriminals have held the data of police departments, grocery and pharmacy chains, hospitals, pipelines and water treatment...

Business

Demonstrators protest against the new state law creating an almost complete ban on abortions in Texas, outside the State Capitol in Austin, Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021. To protest Texas’s new abortion law, activists said they flooded the website set up by the state’s largest anti-abortion group with fake tips. (Montinique Monroe/The New York Times) XNYT70 XNYT70

September 3, 2021 at 8:17 pm

TikTok users and coders flood Texas abortion site with fake tips

After a Texas law restricting abortion went into effect Wednesday, the state’s largest anti-abortion group publicized a website that invited citizens to inform on the...

Nation & World

People outside Bitcoin 2021 in Miami on June 4, 2021. The FBI’s recovery of Bitcoins paid in the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack showed cryptocurrencies are not as hard to track as it might seem. (Alfonso Duran/The New York Times)

June 9, 2021 at 4:35 pm

Colonial Pipeline investigation upends idea that Bitcoin is untraceable

The revelation that federal officials had recovered most of the Bitcoin ransom paid in the recent Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack exposed a fundamental misconception about...

Business

FILE — Anne Neuberger, White House deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies, briefs reporters at the White House in Washington on Monday, May 10, 2021. The White House warned American businesses on Thursday, June 3, to take urgent security measures to protect against ransomware attacks, as hackers shift their tactics from stealing data to disrupting critical infrastructure. (Doug Mills/The New York Times) XNYT129 XNYT129

June 3, 2021 at 7:53 pm

White House warns companies to act now on ransomware defenses

The White House is urging company executives to take many of the defensive steps that the federal government requires of its agencies and contractors to...

Business

A person walks outside the JBS Beef Production Facility in Greeley, Colorado, U.S., on Tuesday, June 1, 2021. A cyberattack on JBS SA, the world’s largest meat producer, has forced the shutdown of some of the largest slaughterhouses globally, and there are signs that the closures are spreading. 775661913

June 1, 2021 at 7:14 pm

One-fifth of U.S. beef capacity wiped out by cyberattack on JBS

The cyberattack on JBS could upset the nation’s meat markets and raises new questions about the vulnerability of critical American businesses. It's the second recent...

Business

May 13, 2021 at 5:46 pm

Colonial Pipeline said to have paid about $5 million in ransom to hackers

WASHINGTON — The operator of a critical fuel pipeline on the East Coast paid extortionists roughly 75 Bitcoin — or nearly $5 million — to...

FILE — Daniel Kaminsky sits for a portrait at his Brooklyn office in 2010. He was widely hailed after finding a serious flaw in the internet’s basic plumbing. Kaminsky, a security researcher known for his discovery of a fundamental flaw in the fabric of the internet, died on Friday, April 23, 2021, at his home in San Francisco. He was 42. His aunt, Dr. Toby Maurer, said the cause was diabetes ketoacidosis, a serious diabetic condition that led to his frequent hospitalization in recent years. In 2008, Kaminsky was widely hailed as a latter-day, digital Paul Revere after he found a serious flaw in the internet’s basic plumbing that could allow skilled coders to take over websites, siphon off bank credentials or even shut down the internet. Kaminsky alerted the Department of Homeland Security, executives at Microsoft and Cisco, and other internet security experts to the problem and helped spearhead a patch. (Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times)

April 27, 2021 at 7:01 am

Daniel Kaminsky, internet security savior, dies at 42

If you are reading this obituary online, you owe your digital safety to Daniel Kaminsky.

Nation & World

A computer screen saver. VPN keyboard security apps cybersecurity malware ransomware

January 6, 2021 at 8:29 pm

Widely used Russian-owned software company may be entry point for huge U.S. hacking

Russian hackers may have piggybacked on a tool developed by JetBrains, which is based in the Czech Republic, to gain access to federal government and...

January 2, 2021 at 9:36 am

As understanding of Russian hacking grows, so does alarm

On Election Day, Gen. Paul Nakasone, the nation’s top cyberwarrior, reported that the battle against Russian interference in the presidential campaign had posted major successes...

Nation & World

December 24, 2020 at 9:11 pm

Russians are believed to have used Microsoft resellers in cyberattacks

Evidence from the security firm CrowdStrike suggests that companies that sell software on behalf of Microsoft were used to break into Microsoft’s Office 365 customers.

Nation & World