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If you use the Microsoft Edge browser at work, your days of texting a screenshot of a web page to your spouse or coworker are nearly over. Microsoft is adding screenshot prevention controls to Edge.
It’s all designed to prevent you from sharing screenshots with competitors, relatives, and journalists using Microsoft Edge for Business. “Screenshot prevention policies will secure against data exfiltration in the browser by blocking the ability to take screenshots on pages labeled as sensitive or protected,” Microsoft said.
Specifically, IT managers at corporations will be able to tag web pages as protected, as defined in various Microsoft policy engines in Microsoft 365, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, Microsoft Intune Mobile Application Management and Microsoft Purview, Microsoft said. The screenshot prevention feature will be available to customers in the “coming months,” Microsoft said. It’s also unclear whether third-party tools will be somehow blocked from taking screenshots or recording video, too.
Ironically, these new Edge feature was introduced right after the reveal of the new Recall AI tool for Copilot+ laptops, which works by creating snapshots of everything you do on a PC, then uses AI to allow you to search for past activities by name or description.
Microsoft will also roll out a way to force Edge for Business users to automatically update their browsers. The feature will enter a preview phase over the next few weeks, Microsoft said.
“The Edge management service will enable IT admins to see which devices have Edge instances that are out of date and at risk,” Microsoft said. “It will also provide mitigating controls, such as forcing a browser restart to install updates, enabling automatic browser updates or enabling enhanced security mode for added protections.”
The latter initiative to force updates seems smart, given that there’s a real risk of zero-day attacks. Whether Microsoft is able to block screenshots being taken (as opposed to just snapped with a smartphone camera) remains to be seen.
As PCWorld’s senior editor, Mark focuses on Microsoft news and chip technology, among other beats. He has formerly written for PCMag, BYTE, Slashdot, eWEEK, and ReadWrite.
When Trade Healthcare paid $22 million in March to a ransomware gang that had crippled the corporate along with a total lot of hospitals, clinical practices, and pharmacies across the US, the cybersecurity alternate warned that Trade’s extortion fee would simplest fuel a vicious cycle: Rewarding hackers who had applied a ruthless act of sabotage in opposition to the US health care arrangement nationwide with one of many very finest ransomware payments in history, it appeared, used to make certain to incentivize a novel wave of assaults on equally sensitive victims. Now that wave has arrived.
In April, cybersecurity firm Recorded Future tracked 44 cases of cybercriminal groups concentrating on health care organizations with ransomware assaults, stealing their files, encrypting their methods, and nerve-racking payments from the companies while preserving their networks hostage. That is extra health care victims of ransomware than in any month Recorded Future has seen in its four years of collecting that files, says Allan Liska, a threat intelligence analyst on the corporate. Evaluating that quantity to the 30 incidents in March, it be also the 2nd very finest month-to-month soar in incidents the corporate has ever tracked.
Whereas Liska notes that he can no longer guarantee of the rationale for that spike, he argues it be unlikely to be a accident that it follows within the wake of Trade Healthcare’s eight-decide payout to the hacker community known as AlphV or BlackCat that used to be tormenting the corporate.
“All these trim payments are fully going to incentivize ransomware actors to drag after health care services,” says Liska, “because they assume there’s extra cash to made be there.”
Whereas most of the health care ransomware victims of the closing two months bear suffered quietly, a couple of bear experienced lifestyles-threatening disruptions on a scale that’s advanced to miss. Ascension, a network of 140 hospitals and 40 senior living amenities, used to be centered by a ransomware community known as Dusky Basta and compelled to divert ambulances from hospitals in some cases, in step with CNN, doubtlessly delaying lifesaving emergency procedures. The infamous hacker community LockBit published 61 gigabytes of files stolen from the Simone Veil clinical institution in Cannes, France, after it refused to pay a ransom. And earlier this month, pathology firm Synnovis used to be hit by ransomware, believed to be the work of Russian community Qilin, forcing a few hospitals in London to prolong surgeries and even witness extra donations of O-form blood as a result of the hospitals’ inability to compare existing blood donations with sufferers needing transfusions.
There had been 44 ransomware assaults on healthcare-connected victims in April of this three hundred and sixty five days, the most of any month on narrative, in step with files light by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.
In actuality, ransomware assaults on health care targets had been on the upward push even forward of the Trade Healthcare attack, which crippled the United Healthcare subsidiary’s ability to process insurance payments on behalf of its health care supplier potentialities starting up in February of this three hundred and sixty five days. Recorded Future’s Liska factors out that every month of 2024 has seen extra health care ransomware assaults than the identical month in any old three hundred and sixty five days that he’s tracked. (Whereas this Can also’s 32 health care assaults is decrease than Can also 2023’s 33, Liska says he expects the extra contemporary quantity to rise as diversified incidents proceed to come attend to gentle.)
Yet Liska aloof factors to the April spike visible in Recorded Future’s files in particular as a likely discover-on attach of Trade’s debacle—no longer simplest the outsize ransom that Trade paid to AlphV, but also the highly visible disruption that the attack precipitated. “Because these assaults are so impactful, diversified ransomware groups witness an different,” Liska says. He also notes that health care ransomware assaults bear continued to develop even in contrast to total ransomware incidents, which stayed rather flat or fell total: The principle four months of this three hundred and sixty five days, as an example, observed 1,153 incidents in contrast to 1,179 within the identical duration of 2023.
When WIRED reached out to United Healthcare for statement, a spokesperson for the corporate pointed to the total rise in health care ransomware assaults origin in 2022, suggesting that the total fashion predated Trade’s incident. The spokesperson also quoted from testimony United Healthcare CEO Andrew Witty gave in a congressional listening to about the Trade Healthcare ransomware attack closing month. “As now we bear addressed the many challenges in responding to this attack, including going thru the count on for ransom, I had been guided by the overriding priority to impact every part doable to provide protection to peoples’ private health knowledge,” Witty urged the listening to. “As chief govt officer, the decision to pay a ransom used to be mine. This used to be one of many hardest choices I’ve ever needed to design. And I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”
Trade Healthcare’s deeply messy ransomware arena used to be advanced extra—and made even extra attention-grabbing for the ransomware hacker underworld—by the fact that AlphV seems to bear taken Trade’s $22 million extortion fee and jilted its hacker partners, disappearing with out giving these affiliates their gash attend of the earnings. That led to a highly uncommon arena the save the affiliates then supplied the solutions to a definite community, RansomHub, which demanded a 2nd ransom from Trade while threatening to leak the solutions on its darkish web discipline.
That 2nd extortion threat later inexplicably disappeared from RansomHub’s discipline. United Healthcare has declined to reply to WIRED’s questions about that 2nd incident or to reply as to whether or no longer it paid a 2nd ransom.
Many ransomware hackers nonetheless broadly take into consideration that Trade Healthcare in truth paid two ransoms, says Jon DiMaggio, a security researcher with cybersecurity firm Analyst1 who recurrently talks to members of ransomware gangs to bring together intelligence. “Everybody used to be talking about the double ransom,” DiMaggio says. “If the of us I’m talking to are enthusiastic on this, it’s no longer a soar to imagine that diversified hackers are as wisely.”
The noise that arena created, as wisely because the dimensions of disruption to health care services from Trade Healthcare’s downtime and its hefty ransom, served because the appropriate advertisement for the lucrative doubtless of hacking fragile, high-stakes health care victims, DiMaggio says. “Successfully being care has frequently had so great to lose, it’s correct one thing the adversary has realized now thanks to Trade,” he says. “They correct had so great leverage.”
As these assaults snowball—and a few health care victims bear likely forked over their be pleased ransoms to manipulate the agonize to their lifestyles-saving methods—the assaults are no longer vulnerable to discontinue. “It’s frequently regarded treasure an awfully simple aim,” DiMaggio notes. “Now it seems treasure an awfully simple aim that’s gripping to pay.”
Up to this point 6/12/24 9:35am ET: This story has been updated to replicate that ransomware incident totals comprise the fist four months of the three hundred and sixty five days, no longer correct April.
A lot of Republican participants of Congress maintain known as for an instantaneous investigation into a recently fired Federal Emergency Administration Agency (FEMA) staffer who informed relief team participants to bypass homes that had indicators showing beef up for then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
On Saturday FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell confirmed that a FEMA worker informed “her survivor assistance team to no longer lope to homes with yard indicators supporting President-elect Trump,” and has since been “terminated,” in a put up on on X, formerly Twitter. The affirmation comes as reports of the FEMA staffer maintain circulated on-line in most contemporary days.
No longer too lengthy previously, a FEMA worker departed from these values to expose her survivor assistance team to no longer lope to homes with yard indicators supporting President-elect Trump. Here’s a clear violation of FEMA’s core values & tips to wait on of us no subject their political affiliation.
Criswell known as the actions “reprehensible,” and a “particular violation of FEMA’s core values & tips to wait on of us no subject their political affiliation.”
She illustrious that the subject has been referred to the Office of Special Counsel. Her put up did no longer demonstrate in the case of which Storm, though ABC News and The Contemporary York Occasions cited it changed into in reference to Storm Milton in Florida, which came correct days after the devastating Storm Helene.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell speaks all the map in which thru the day-to-day press briefing on the White Rental on September 26, 2024 in Washington, DC. On Saturday, she confirmed a FEMA worker “expose her survivor assistance team to no longer…
Score McNamee/Getty Pictures
Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s campaign, FEMA and the Office of Special Counsel for statement by task of electronic mail on Saturday evening.
A handful of Republicans maintain posted on social media calling for an investigation into the subject and calling out the political discrimination.
Maine Senator Susan Collins wrote in an X put up, “The Inspector Traditional must in an instant conduct a beefy investigation, and all these responsible for enjoying politics with susceptible of us’s lives and homes must be held responsible.”
The day earlier than currently, earlier than Criswell’s put up confirming the incident, Representative Matt Gaetz said the FEMA staffers actions are “unconscionable discrimination, and Congress MUST INVESTIGATE!”
Senator Mike Lee of Utah known as the movement “reprehensible” on X, adding that “This form of political discrimination by public servants tasked with serving to Individuals in injure is abhorrent.”
On the affirm stage, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wrote the day earlier than currently, “At my route, the Division of Emergency Administration is launching an investigation into the federal authorities’s focused discrimination of Floridians who beef up Donald Trump.” He added, “Contemporary management is on the capability in DC, and I’m optimistic that these partisan bureaucrats will be fired.”
Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado wrote that “accountability must come,” calling the authorities staffer’s actions “one among primarily the most egregious issues I’ve ever viewed.”
On Tuesday, Trump won the presidential election, securing each and every the in style vote and the Electoral Faculty majority. The president-elect won his affirm of predicament, Florida, which changed into hit by Milton in early-October.
An Elon University poll earlier than the presidential election, learned that Storm Helene, which ravaged thru several states, including Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee, killing more than 227 of us, “galvanized the plans of about a fifth of North Carolina’s voters to solid ballots this year.”
The poll of 800 registered North Carolina voters performed between October 10 and 17, learned “though-provoking partisan differences” on respondents ogle of the authorities’s response to Helene.
When asked the suitable blueprint to portray the federal and affirm companies’ response to Helene in the affirm, 68 p.c of Democrats said they were doing no longer no longer up to a upright job, while easiest 24 p.c of Republicans agreed. On the quite quite a lot of hand 57 p.c of Republicans said the companies were doing a bad job, when put next with 12 p.c of Democrats feeling that means. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.ninety nine share aspects.
Trump won in North Carolina, with correct over 51 p.c of the affirm’s voters casting their ballots to beef up him.
The company moreover confronted allegations and misinformation surrounding typhoon relief efforts and efficacy, prompting FEMA to publicly debunk rumors and take care of myths on its web page.
