Articles of interest from the week of July 22, 2019

Cyberthreats Targeting Municipalities Are On The Rise

Through the first half of 2019, a growing number of municipalities across the US were hit with crippling ransomware attacks, while several large companies disclosed data breaches that exposed more than 625 million records. (Help Net Security)

Scams Use False Alerts to Target Office 365 Users, Admins

Malicious actors have recently been targeting Microsoft Office 365 users in two separate scams – one that distributes the TrickBot information-stealing trojan via a fake website and a phishing campaign that sends fake alerts with the intent to take over the accounts of email domain administrators. (By Bradley Barth, SC Magazine)

NSA to Establish a Defense-Minded Division Named the Cybersecurity Directorate

The NSA's new Cybersecurity Directorate to become operational in October. (By Catalin Cimpanu, ZD Net)

Equifax to pay up to $425 Million for Breach in FTC Settlement

Equifax will pay between $330 million to $425 million to a restitution fund for victims in a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over a 2017 breach that exposed the personal information of 148 million people. (By Teri Robinson, SC Magazine)

IBM: Breach Costs Impact Firms for Years