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Today’s Roundup: Security Spending Hikes, New COVID Shots, Cyber Issues at MGM, and More

As security professionals convene in Dallas, Texas, this week for the 2023 GSX Conference, and Security Management staff work to bring you the GSX Daily, we will shift the focus of Today in Security away from a deeper analysis of a single news story to a quick round-up of several of the news stories affecting the world of security.

 

Global companies to hike security spending as threats rise

From Reuters: Almost half of security chiefs at the world’s biggest companies expect to increase their budgets significantly in the next year as they see economic and social unrest driving more cases of theft, fraud, and the leaking of sensitive information.

A survey of 1,775 chief security officers in 30 countries found their companies had lost more than $1 trillion in revenue in 2022 as a result of non-cyber security incidents, similar to the monetary impact of higher profile cyber attacks.

The survey, by the American security and staffing company Allied Universal, found companies were losing high-end goods and intellectual property both internally to staff and externally, with North America badly affected.

 

US approves updated COVID vaccines to rev up protection this fall

From the Associated Press (AP): The United States approved updated COVID-19 vaccines Monday, hoping to rev up protection against the latest coronavirus strains and blunt any surge this fall and winter.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration decision opens the newest shots from Moderna and Pfizer and its partner BioNTech to most Americans even if they’ve never had a coronavirus vaccination. It’s part of a shift to treat fall updates of the COVID-19 vaccine much like getting a yearly flu shot.

There’s still another step: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) must sign off. A CDC advisory panel is set to issue recommendations Tuesday on who most needs the updated shots. Vaccinations could begin later this week, and both the COVID-19 and flu shot can be given at the same visit.

‘Cybersecurity Issue’ Forces Systems Shutdown at MGM Hotels and Casinos

From The New York Times: The casino and hotel chain MGM Resorts International said on Monday that a “cybersecurity issue” was affecting some of its online systems, causing disruptions for customers, particularly in Las Vegas, where cybersecurity experts said the company was likely the victim of a pervasive cyberattack.

MGM Resorts did not share specifics on the disruptions or disclose when the issue began or when it was detected, but said that law enforcement had been notified. In a statement, the company said that it had taken “prompt action to protect our systems and data, including shutting down certain systems.”

…There were some signs of disruptions for the company, which did not respond to emails seeking comment. Its website was down Monday evening, and comments posted by Facebook group users stated that slot machines were not working and that there were problems accessing hotel rooms at the company’s resorts.

 

US sets record for billion-dollar weather disasters in a year — and there’s still 4 months to go

From the AP: The deadly firestorm in Hawaii and Hurricane Idalia’s watery storm surge helped push the United States to a record for the number of weather disasters that cost $1 billion or more. And there’s still four months to go on what’s looking more like a calendar of calamities.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced Monday that there have been 23 weather extreme events in America that cost at least $1 billion this year through August, eclipsing the year-long record total of 22 set in 2020. So far this year’s disasters have cost more than $57.6 billion and claimed at least 253 lives.

And NOAA’s count doesn’t yet include Tropical Storm Hilary’s damages in hitting California and a deep drought that has struck the South and Midwest because those costs are still to be totaled.

 

Sabotage attempts reported at polling stations in occupied Ukraine as Russia holds local elections

From the AP: Russian authorities on Sunday reported multiple attempts to sabotage voting in local elections taking place in occupied areas of Ukraine.

Polls have now closed after local elections were held over the weekend in 79 regions of Russia, with ballots for governors, regional legislatures, city and municipal councils, as well as in the four Ukrainian regions Moscow annexed illegally last year—the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia provinces—and on the Crimean Peninsula, which the Kremlin annexed in 2014…

A drone strike destroyed one polling station in the Zaporizhzhia province hours before it opened on Sunday, deputy chairman of Russia’s Central Election Commission Nikolai Bulaev told reporters. He said no staff were at the station at the time of the attack.

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