Hello. China's Cyberspace Administration of China wants Nvidia to explain the “backdoor security risks” associated with its H20 chips sold in China and submit relevant documents, it said Thursday.

The move is aimed at “safeguarding the network and data security of Chinese users” given that American industry experts had said Nvidia’s chips had tracking and remote-shutdown capabilities. The company has said its chips have no such backdoors. Read the full story.

Also today: 

• Ransomware hackers also threaten to harm executives
• Genome tech company settles whistleblower's cyber suit
• No MFA, no insurance payout
• Average breach cost tops $10 million
• And more

• Another threat: Forty-seven percent of respondents said hackers vowed to file data-breach or cybersecurity complaints to regulators against the victims.
• Although the frequency of ransomware payments has dipped, it remains high: 69%, Semperis said. 

Cyber whistleblower case: Biotech company Illumina agreed to pay $9.8 million to settle allegations that it sold vulnerable software to the U.S. government between February 2016 and September 2023. Illumina's genomic sequencing systems allegedly contained cybersecurity problems and the company falsely claimed otherwise, the Justice Department said Thursday.

• Illumina denied the allegations and any liability, according to the settlement.
• A former executive at Illumina who filed a lawsuit under the whistleblower provisions of the federal False Claims Act is due to receive a $1.9 million share of the settlement. 

Cyber insurance claim denied: The city of Hamilton in Ontario said its cyber insurer denied its $5 million claim because a rollout of multifactor authentication was incomplete when hackers struck last year and a lack of MFA was deemed a root cause of the attack. A February 2024 ransomware episode disrupted many city systems for weeks. Hamilton has since spent more than $18 million to recover and improve its tech. (CBC)

Russia's FSB spy agency is targeting internet service providers in the country to plant malware and conduct espionage at foreign embassies in Moscow, Microsoft said. (Reuters)

• California, Colorado and Montana recently passed laws to regulate the protection of brain data.

The WSJ Pro Cybersecurity team is Deputy Bureau Chief Kim S. Nash and reporters Angus Loten, James Rundle and Catherine Stupp. Follow us on X @WSJCyber. Reach the team by replying to any newsletter you receive or by emailing Kim at kim.nash@wsj.com.