Last month, journalist Josh Renaud with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch discovered that the state of Missouri's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) had teachers' confidential information, including social security numbers, unprotected on their website.

According to cybersecurity researchers at Digital Shadows, businesses within the industrial goods & services sector have been the top targets of ransomware attacks in the first three quarters of 2021.

As supply chain issues, which have existed since early in the pandemic, continue at a grueling pace, cybercriminals have exacerbated the issue by attacking companies that cannot stretch their bottom line, giving a higher possibility of ransom payment.

The United States launched an offensive in its war against cybercrime last month as they successfully hacked Russian hacking group REvil, taking their servers and leak blogs offline.

The group was responsible for the attack on Colonial Pipeline last Spring, which used encryption software named "DarkSide.

Last week, our team attended the Associated Subcontractors of Massachusetts Biennial Dinner Gala in Quincy, MA. We were proud to sponsor the night as a Platinum sponsor!

Thank you to all who attended!

MIT announced last month that a $24 million gift to MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research from philanthropist Lisa Yang will help establish the "K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan Center for Molecular Therapeutics in Neuroscience," a bionics center that aims to expand the efficiency and deliverability of bionic prosthetics to those who suffer from a broad range of physical disabilities.

The pharmacy Walgreens was criticized last month for leaving confidential COVID-19 test patient information exposed online without any protection. According to Vox.com, patients who received a test from Walgreens in the past year had their name, date of birth, gender identity, phone number, address, and e-mail "left on the open web for potentially anyone to see.

Iowa-based agriculture group New Cooperative, which produces about 40% of the United States' grain supply, is the latest victim of ransomware group BlackMatter. The incident "could lead to a food shortage in the coming weeks and months," according to ChannelFutures.

The International Association of Ports and Harbors, a global organization representing ports worldwide that works with the United Nations, has released an 84-page document outlining "IAPH Cybersecurity Guidelines for Ports and Port Facilities."

According to the Executive Summary of the document, "The risk of a cyber-attack has become the top risk for port authorities and the wider port community.