If TSA relies on facial recognition is there any additional benefit in knowing my name? If my face does not match known terrorists or any other ‘no fly’ list, who cares what name I use? If TSA only has a terrorist’s name, what are the odds that he would use it to book a flight? Is this another government attempt to require a national ID card?

https://apnews.com/article/facial-recognition-airport-screening-tsa-d8b6397c02afe16602c8d34409d1451f

Are you who you say you are? TSA tests facial recognition technology to boost airport security

A passenger walks up to an airport security checkpoint, slips an ID card into a slot and looks into a camera atop a small screen. The screen flashes “Photo Complete” and the person walks through — all without having to hand over their identification to the TSA officer sitting behind the screen.

It’s all part of a pilot project by the Transportation Security Administration to assess the use of facial recognition technology at a number of airports across the country.

“What we are trying to do with this is aid the officers to actually determine that you are who you say who you are,” said Jason Lim, identity management capabilities manager, during a demonstration of the technology to reporters at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

Even hackers know to go ‘where the money is.’

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3696350/insured-companies-more-likely-to-be-ransomware-victims-sometimes-more-than-once.html#tk.rss_all

Insured companies more likely to be ransomware victims, sometimes more than once

… Back in 2019, fewer than 20% of enterprises suffered repeat ransomware attacks, while during the pandemic, the percentage rose to around 30%. And it didn’t stop with the pandemic, with 38% of organizations surveyed in 2022 reporting two or more successful ransomware attacks, those that attackers were able to lock systems, encrypt data, or exfiltrate information to demand a ransom, according to Barracuda’s report conducted by Vanson Bourne.

Companies with cyber insurance get targeted more

Cyber insurance plays a significant role in the numbers as they get targeted more, Barracuda Networks CTO Fleming Shi tells CSO. The survey found that 77% of organizations with cyber insurance were hit at least once, compared to 65% of organizations without insurance. In addition, of the companies that had cyber insurance, 39% paid the ransom.

(Related)

https://www.databreaches.net/ransomware-corrupts-data-so-backups-can-be-faster-and-cheaper-than-paying-up/

Ransomware corrupts data, so backups can be faster and cheaper than paying up

Simon Sharwood reports:

Ransomware actors aim to spend the shortest amount of time possible inside your systems, and that means the encryption they employ is shoddy and often corrupts your data. That in turn means restoration after paying ransoms is often a more expensive chore than just deciding not to pay and working from our own backups.

That’s the opinion of Richard Addiscott, a senior director analyst at Gartner.

Read more at The Register.

The statistics from Gartner are pretty striking and of course, directly conflict with what ransomware groups assure their victims about recovery and other issues. According to Sharwood’s reporting of a talk Addiscott gave:

Restoring from corrupt data dumps delivered by crooks is not easy, Addiscott advised – and that’s if ransomware operators deliver all the data they promise. Plenty don’t – instead they use a ransom payment to open a new round of negotiations about the price of further releases.

That sort of wretched villainy means just four percent of ransomware victims recover all their data, he said. Only 61 percent recover data at all. And victims typically experience 25 days of disruption to their businesses.