Discerning Data

Discerning Data Cyber Vulnerability Alert: Four Emerging Cyber Threats

According to several recent media reports, malicious cyber actors have begun to utilize four new types of cyberattacks as part of their current destructive repertoire. The website www.databreachtoday.com noted that these new attacks are “significantly reshaping the threat landscape that CISOs have to deal with.”

These four new emerging cyberattacks are identified as:

Defensive Evasion;
Triple Extortion;
Wiper Malware; and
Accelerated Exploit Chain.

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What Are Social Engineering Attacks? How Can You Protect Yourself? – A Faegre Drinker on Law and Technology Podcast

Social engineering attacks are at the core of all cyberattacks, as threat actors use many different types of psychological manipulation to kick off their cyberattacks. In this episode of the Faegre Drinker on Law and Technology Podcast, host Jason G. Weiss welcomes Peter Baldwin — who focuses his practice in white collar criminal investigations and cyber-incident response — and they explore the ins and outs of social engineering attacks, how to identify them and how to defeat them.

In this episode with a special twist, Pete takes the “host microphone” and chats with Jason, who takes on the role of podcast guest tackling a number of questions, including:

What are the main underlying pillars of a social engineering attack? What is their foundation and what makes them successful?
How do the more common social engineering attacks work? Such as phishing, spear phishing, whaling, business email compromises, dumpster diving, smishing, vishing, catfishing, gas lighting and SIM swapping?
What are the top targets in health care, financial services and manufacturing?
What are some good defenses to help people prevent many of the more common social engineering attacks?

Progress on Federal Privacy Legislation, but Still a Long Way to Go

A bipartisan group of legislators in Washington, D.C., recently released a discussion draft of a federal privacy bill — the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA). This draft bill reaches compromise positions on two key issues that have been the largest obstacles to passing such legislation: state preemption and a private right of action. This discussion draft preempts most comprehensive state privacy laws and includes a narrow and limited private right of action. The compromises on these issues in the bill, however, are likely to draw criticism from both Democrats and Republicans, along with industry and privacy advocates.

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Russia, Cybersecurity & Government Contracting – Faegre Drinker on Law and Technology Podcast

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created a host of challenges for the U.S. government to address, including the need to prepare for potential Russian cyberattacks and questions about how to handle Russian connections to supply chains and government contracts. In this episode of the Faegre Drinker on Law and Technology Podcast, host Jason G. Weiss sits down with Faegre Drinker partners Dana Pashkoff and Jessica Abrahams to unpack the thorny issues at the nexus of Russia, cybersecurity and U.S. government activity.

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HHS Ransomware Report Details Revival of Dangerous LOTL Cyberattack

On May 5, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a report entitled “Ransomware Trends in the HPH Sector” (HHS Report) that reviewed key cybersecurity threats and trends affecting the U.S. healthcare sector.

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What Is Algorithmic Bias? Why Is It Important? – Faegre Drinker on Law and Technology Podcast

Chances are good that your organization uses algorithms or artificial intelligence to help make business decisions — and that regulatory efforts targeting these automated decision-making systems, including their potential to produce unintended bias, have caught your attention. In this episode of the Faegre Drinker on Law and Technology Podcast, host Jason G. Weiss sits down with Bennett Borden, Faegre Drinker’s chief data scientist and co-founder of the firm’s artificial intelligence and algorithmic decision-making (AI-X) team, to discuss algorithmic bias and what companies should know about the latest regulatory developments.

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