Microsoft recently made Update 1809 available (also called Redstone 5) and no sooner were users installing the update than they were making a terrible discovery. The update is deleting photos and documents from the users’ systems. To be clear, the update is not moving these files to another partition or compressing them – it’s erasing them from the system – just as an earlier Windows 10 upgrade generated horror stories of people who lost everything – from precious photos to important documents to irreplaceable videos.

https://www.acronis.com/en-us/cyber-protection/ The bustling Port of San Diego is recovering from a ransomware attack that hit on Tuesday, September 25, striking the administrative computer systems. The FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security are currently on-site investigating the ransomware further. And while the Port remains open to the public and shipping traffic is unaffected, certain systems are being shut down as a precaution while Port officials develop and implement their recovery plan. The incident marks the second cyberattack on an international port this week, as the Port of Barcelona was forced to fall back on contingency plans in response to an attack on their servers. Yet these are just two of the latest examples in a troubling epidemic of cybercrimes that target transportation, municipal, and governmental infrastructure.

How well protected is your company’s data? If you’re like the majority of IT professionals, probably not well enough. That’s not our opinion, but rather the honest answer from 62 percent of IT professionals from around the globe who reported that their security infrastructure has gaps that would allow attackers to penetrate their defenses. That revelation is just one of the troubling findings from the Ponemon Institute’s recent report on the modern IT security gap and how artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) could help.

This past weekend, a ransomware attack hit the U.K.'s Bristol Airport, increasing the stress and inconvenience of travelers trying to reach their destinations, forcing front-line staff to resort to manual, pen-and-paper systems while the airport’s IT team labored to contain the attack. An undisclosed ransomware strain hit Friday morning and took systems down through Saturday and into Sunday. While the cyberattack on Bristol targeted its administrative systems, the airport opted to take several vulnerable systems offline as a precautionary measure – including public-facing flight arrival and departure information monitors. As a result, airline staff had to update passengers via whiteboards and frequent public address announcements. The attack illustrates how the transportation industry and municipalities need to increasingly consider the risks of cyberattacks as connected vehicles, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and other technologies become integral to our transportation infrastructure.