Des Moines Orthopaedic Surgeons, P.C. (DMOS) has three clinics throughout Iowa’s capital; they offer comprehensive solutions for ortho-care, from joints to extremities and MRI imaging to outpatient surgery. DMOS utilizes a variety of third-party vendors to serve their patients and the surrounding regions; almost a year ago, DMOS experienced a cybersecurity event through one of these vendors. The unauthorized actors broke into their system and compromised the information of 307,864 individuals.

Bankers Life and Casualty Company (Bankers) is a nationwide retirement solutions provider. Their services assist members in maintaining and stretching their retirement income, paying for health and treatment programs, finding excellent retirement care, and assisting families with final expenses. There are over 3,800 Bankers agents throughout the US, with most states having one or more physical branches.

HopSkipDrive is an education solution that assists guardians with their unique transportation needs; from planning bus logistics to utilizing live ride-share options, HopSkipDrive is a family’s best resource for education transportation. In July 2023, HopSkipDrive received an email from an unknown actor, allegedly claiming that assailants exfiltrated information during a cyber attack.

This week started with a cyber event targeting a Californian insurance brokerage, Keenan & Associates; the assailants garnered over 1.5 million records from the attack. GEICO also announced data from their organization was compromised, although the breach didn’t happen through them; one of their vendors was hit by the global MOVEit event, exposing the data of over 70k employees and associates.

The Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO) is a privately owned insurance group with 18 branches in the US. They provide insurance plans for all aspects of life, including auto, motorcycle, travel, pet, homeowner, renter, and jewelry options. GEICO employs over 38,000 people nationwide, many of whom receive discounted prices for their insurance. GEICO also offers dental insurance to its employees through Delta Dental of California (DDC) and affiliates.

Planet Home Lending (PHL) is a real estate and homeowner agency that assists consumers in finding and financing lasting homes. PHL has 20 locations, from California to Alabama and Spokane to New Orleans. Citrix Systems, a worldwide technology solutions provider, created one aspect of PHL’s network. In 2023, officials found Citrix to have a destructive vulnerability, which allowed cybercriminals to access the networks of Citrix clients.

The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) is a non-profit organization that minimizes and mitigates the risks of identity threats. Their role as a reputable security solution enables them to collect and analyze data from survey respondents; this report asked questions of small business (SMB) owners and employees to assess the state of identity threats better.

We don't think about it much, but moving data from our devices to various online locations is a complex process. It's just a single click for us but involves countless communications between servers. All these steps mean that there are countless places for a malicious actor to intervene and steal data. Transport Layer Security (TLS) stands at the forefront of data transmission defense and ensures that your information remains private as long as it travels across secure connections.

Effectively responding to cyber threats is all about speed and information. Defense specialists must react quickly to repel attacks and mitigate damages. However, cybercriminals are playing a different game. Bad actors try to sneak in undetected, hide their tracks, and leave the good guys scratching their heads. Luckily, it's exceptionally challenging to eliminate the indicators of attack (IOA) and the indicators of compromise (IOC).