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MSSP News Alert: Monday 24 April 2017

Each morning MSSP Alert broadcasts a quick lineup of news, analysis and chatter from across the global MSSP (managed security services provider) ecosystem.

Here’s the lineup for Monday, April 24, 2017:

10. HIPAA Violation: The Center for Children’s Digestive Health in Chicago will pay a $31,000 HIPAA fine. Neither the center nor an associated contractor -- FileFax, which stores medical records -- had a signed business associate agreement. FileFax was accused in 2005 of dumping medical records in an unlocked trash container.

9. Talent & Cybersecurity: Tenable, the cybersecurity company, is expanding to Ireland and will open its 100-staff international headquarters in its new Dublin office this month.

8. Talent & H-1B Visas: The Trump administration alleges Tata, Infosys, Cognizant are violating H-1B Visa norms by overwhelming the lottery system with visa requests. The firms declined to comment and are bracing for potential changes in the H-1B Visa system. Meanwhile, India Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has "strongly raised" the H-1B Visa issue with U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, according to the Times of India...

7. Hacker Sentencing: Russian Hacker Roman Valerevich Seleznev has been sentence to 27 years in prison — the longest sentence handed down for hacking-related charges in the United States, according to The New York Times. Seleznev ran a credit card and identity theft operation from his homes in Bali, Indonesia, and Vladivostok, Russia, the United States alleged. He also sold millions of credit card numbers on the black market, The Times reported.

6. Alleged DDoS Hacker on Trial: Adam Mudd made nearly £300,000 from his bedroom selling his home-made software used to crash websites and computer networks around the world, according to the Mirror. The program, called Titanium Stresser, was used to launch DDoS attacks against 1.7 million sites, prosecutors allege. Targets included Microsoft, Sony and Cambridge University.

5. President Trump Cybersecurity Plan: It's overdue.

4. Hardware Security: The federal government wants hardware companies to bake security directly into their product designs. The effort is known as System Security Integrated Through Hardware and firmware (SSITH).

3. Notebook Security: HP Inc. has unveiled HP ZBook Mobile Workstations with major security updates. The devices -- designed for filmmakers, artists and digital pros -- feature HP Sure Start Gen3, a self-healing PC BIOS with encryption, authentication, malware protection, data protection, identity assurance, and threat detection and response capabilities.

2.  IoT Security: Roughly 20 Linksys routers are vulnerable to various IoT security exploits, according to a Linksys security advisory. Here's how the Linksys security holes were found. Network hardware makers are facing intense scrutiny on the cybersecurity front, especially in the consumer market. For instance, D-Link is fighting a lawsuit that claims the company's networking gear leaves consumers open to basic security threats.

1. Countdown to Launch: Yup. We wrote this blog on Monday, April 24 — quite a bit before MSSP Alert’s anticipated launch day in mid-2017.

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.