Spear Phishing and Comcast’s Data Breach
In the same week that Microsoft disrupted Russian spear phishing operations, telecom giant Comcast has had to notify around 238,000 current and former customers that ransomware has compromised their personal data at the debt agency Financial Business and Consumer Solutions (FBCS). How many steps forward versus back is that, I wonder? Starting with the former,… Read More
Streaming Security and Dark Web Markets
As if the burden of managing numerous streaming services, their rising costs, incessant ads and other consumer-unfriendly practices weren’t enough, people also have to consider cybersecurity threats interrupting their casual entertainment time. Most recently comes news about a new malware strain that has infected over a million TV streaming boxes using the Android Open Source… Read More
Data Breaches Beyond the National Public
A number of data breaches have made the news these last couple of weeks, managing to creep their way around the edges of the predominant National Public Data breach. Japanese automaker Toyota has admitted to a breach of its systems, to the tune of 240 GB of data. Customer and staff information, financial documents and… Read More
Monitoring the Gargantuan NPD Breach
“Local Florida man exposes…millions of Social Security numbers?” Ok, that’s not usually how those headlines go, and in this case it’s a Florida based firm, rather than an individual. National Public Data (NPD), a data broker owned by Jerico Pictures, Inc., provides information for background checks. This past April, a hacking group stole the records… Read More
Data Security Failures: The Cost to Industry
Despite a marginal decrease in data breach expenses, the healthcare industry still foots a bill when an incident occurs: an average of $9.8 million per breach. This is a mere $1 million lower than the previous year, and does not dethrone the healthcare industry from its top spot in the rankings. In comparison, the financial… Read More
Consolidation and Integration of Big Tech
Not one day after my last post, snarking about AI, movies like Terminator and their unlearned lessons, and one of the most Skynet-esque global computer failures occurs. Weird how that happens. The global Microsoft Windows outage that has been on everyone’s minds this past week is such a glaring example. Now, obviously the CrowdStrike software… Read More
How Seriously Do We Take AI Data Security Risks?
I swear, sometimes it’s like nobody watched the Terminator or Matrix movies. News has come out that a hacker accessed proprietary information from OpenAI on the development of their products. No loss of customer or partner data, or access to main repository systems has been reported. And while OpenAI has claimed this incident doesn’t represent… Read More
Change in the Ransomware Status Quo?
A curiously uncorroborated claim by famous Russian ransomware group, LockBit, is stirring up the news this week. Their newest threat is the release of 33 terabytes of American citizens’ banking data, acquired in an alleged (by them) data breach of the U.S. Federal Reserve. The question so far, however, is did LockBit actually breach the… Read More
Blackbaud’s Latest Data Breach Settlement
Four years since the event, Blackbaud is continuing to pay for its 2020 data breach. Most recently, they are now settling against charges of violations of HIPAA and California data security laws, which led to its breach. An incident in which hackers gained access to internal systems and personal data (including Social Security numbers, bank… Read More
Ripples of the Snowflake Breach
Ticketmaster and its parent corporation, Live Nation, are being particularly reticent on details surrounding a data breach against the live events giant. Aside from the allegations that it is a breach of massive proportions, and that a third-party vendor’s cloud database was compromised, not much is known. “On May 27, a criminal threat actor offered… Read More