Cybercriminals Exploit AI Hype to Spread Ransomware

AI adoption is booming—but so is cybercrime. Programs disguised as popular AI tools that contain malware are being planted by threat actors hoping to deceive companies jumping in and adopting AI. According to Cisco Talos, Cisco's "threat intelligence research organization", these programs may be downloaded by accident due to search result manipulation, in which tactics are used to make the illegitimate programs appear higher in the search results than others.

Healthcare Data Breaches Soar, HIPAA Risks Mount

In an article titled Healthcare Data Breach Statistics, HIPAA Journal revealed that 2024 saw the single largest healthcare data breach on record, affecting 190 million individual records. This followed a record-breaking 2023, which saw 725 breaches containing over 133 million records exposed.

FBI Warns of Toll Smishing Scam

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has issued an alert regarding a smishing scam impersonating road toll services. Smishing, a form of phishing that uses text messages to deceive recipients into providing personal information or clicking on malicious links, is a growing threat as more people rely on their mobile devices for communication and transactions.

Massachusetts Residents Targeted in Massive Identity Fraud Scheme

According to a blog post on their website, Socure, a “leading provider of AI-powered digital identity verification and fraud prevention solutions”, has identified “over 9,100 fraudulent checking and credit applications spanning multiple financial institutions” that are created with the stolen identities of Massachusetts residents born between 1975 and 1990.

The attackers have been using specific email domains, such as Outlook.