An epidemic of ransomware attacks has been plaguing government agencies, businesses and individuals for the past three years. Most are Russian-speaking gangs based in Eastern Europe and enjoy safe harbor from tolerant governments. The more sophisticated groups identify their targets in advance, infect networks through phishing or other means and often steal data as they plant malware that encrypts a victim's network. After the ransomware is activated, the criminals demand money to unlock the malware and refrain from posting — or selling — stolen data. In the case of corporations, that data could be trade secrets. In the case of retailers or government agencies it could be Social Security, bank account numbers and birth claimed it stole from Broward's system Social Security numbers, birth dates and other student and employee information. Public school districts have been frequent targets of ransomware attacks. The districts of Baltimore County, Maryland; Fairfax County, Virginia; Hartford, Connecticut; and Fort Worth, Texas, were among those hit last year.
While online ad exchanges use automated bidding systems to determine which ads to show people using internet services, data such as user locations, devices, and web activity can be gathered, according to the senators. "These dossiers are being openly sold to anyone with a credit card, including to hedge funds, political campaigns, and even to governments, " the senators wrote. Questions sent to the companies included what information is gathered about people in the course of serving up ads and which foreign firms have bought such data from them, according to the release. The companies were given until May 4 to provide answers. Twitter told AFP it had received the letter and intended to respond. The other companies did not immediately respond to queries for comment. Google has pledged to steer clear of tracking individual online activity when it begins implementing a new system for targeting ads without the use of so-called "cookies. " The internet giant's widely used Chrome browser recently began testing an alternative to the tracking practice that it believes could improve online privacy while still enabling advertisers to serve up relevant messages.