Top stories.
- Venezuela blames physical attacks for blackouts, though cyber questions remain.
- Last year's Covenant Health breach affected more than 478,000 people.
- Two US cybersecurity workers plead guilty to involvement in ransomware schemes.
Venezuela blames physical attacks for blackouts, though cyber questions remain.
The United States over the weekend launched a coordinated military operation in Caracas that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, accompanied by widespread power outages and blackouts. The Venezuelan government has said the outages were caused by physical attacks, but President Trump's comments that certain US "expertise" was involved have led to speculation that cyber operations were responsible. Additionally, General Dan Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a press conference that US Cyber Command and Space Command helped to "create a pathway" for the US forces entering Venezuela.
POLITICO says spokespeople for the White House, Cyber Command, and Space Command did not respond to requests for comment about potential cyber operations.
Last year's Covenant Health breach affected more than 478,000 people.
US healthcare system Covenant Health has disclosed that more than 478,000 people were affected by a May 2025 data breach following an attack by the Qilin ransomware gang, the Record reports. Covenant began sending breach notifications on New Year's Eve. The incident involved "patients’ names and one or more of the following: addresses, dates of birth, medical record numbers, Social Security numbers, health insurance information, and treatment information, such as diagnoses, dates of treatment, and/or type of treatment."
Two US cybersecurity workers plead guilty to involvement in ransomware schemes.
Two US cybersecurity professionals, Ryan Goldberg of Georgia and Kevin Martin of Texas, have pleaded guilty to acting as affiliates for the BlackCat/ALPHV ransomware gang, SecurityWeek reports. Martin worked as a ransomware negotiator at threat intelligence and incident response firm DigitalMint, while Goldberg was an incident response manager at Sygnia.
The US Justice Department says Goldberg, Martin, and an unnamed co-conspirator "agreed to pay the ALPHV BlackCat administrators a 20% share of any ransoms received in exchange for access to the ransomware and ALPHV BlackCat’s extortion platform." Justice adds, "All three men worked in the cybersecurity industry — meaning that they had special skills and experience in securing computer systems against harm, including the type of harm they themselves were committing against the victims in this case. After successfully extorting one victim for approximately $1.2 million in Bitcoin, the men split their 80% share of this ransom three ways and laundered the funds through various means."
