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Articles by Maritza Santillan
Security Boulevard
A data breach involving luxury retailer Nordstrom has potentially exposed the personal information of thousands of its employees. The Seattle-based company said the compromised data included employee names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, checking account and routing numbers, salaries, and more. According to reports, employees received an email notification this week informing them of the breach, while others were notified in-person by their store managers.
Security Boulevard
The Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) is warning that approximately 4,500 customers had their personal information exposed following a privacy breach involving Canada Post. In a statement on Twitter, the OCS announced on Wednesday that an unauthorized individual was able to access order records for roughly two percent of its customer base using the mail carrier’s online delivery tracking tool.
Security Boulevard
Weeks before the November midterm elections, roughly 35 million U.S. voter registration records from 19 states have appeared for sale on the dark web. Researchers from Anomali Labs and Intel 471 discovered the data for sale, which reportedly includes voters’ “full name, phone numbers, physical addresses, voting history, and other unspecified voting data.” Just three of the 19 states consisted of 23 million voter records.
Security Boulevard
Facebook announced on Friday that it recently discovered a data breach affecting 50 million user accounts. The social media giant said the security issue was uncovered by its engineering team on Tuesday, Sept. 25. “Our investigation is still in its early stages. But it’s clear that attackers exploited a vulnerability in Facebook’s code that impacted ‘View As,’ a feature that lets people see what their own profile looks like to someone else,” Facebook explained.
Security Boulevard
Air Canada announced on Wednesday that approximately 20,000 customers may have had their personal information compromised after a data breach in its mobile app. As a result, the airline says it locked down all 1.7 million accounts until users update their passwords.
Security Boulevard
The U.S. Justice Department has charged a dozen Russian intelligence officers with a series of hacking offenses against the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the indictments on Friday as part of the ongoing investigation into Russia’s possible interference with the 2016 presidential election.
Security Boulevard
Macy’s is notifying customers of a data breach involving unauthorized access to their payment card data and personal information. In a notice sent to affected customers, Macy’s said it first detected suspicious login activity from certain Macys.com accounts on June 11, 2018. The breach also appears to affect customers who shopped on Bloomingdales.com, which is owned by Macy’s.
Security Boulevard
Financial regulators have ordered British banks and other financial services firms to provide a detailed plan for responding to IT outages and cyber-attacks. The Bank of England (BoE) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a joint discussion paper on Thursday, asking firms to report on their exposure to risk and incident response processes. Firms have been given an October 5 deadline to provide their emergency back-up plans.
Security Boulevard
Facebook announced it is notifying more than 800,000 affected users after a bug temporarily reset certain account privacy settings. The social media giant said the bug allowed users who had been previously blocked on both Facebook and Messenger to become unblocked. In a statement, the company said the bug was live for about a week – between May 29 and June 5.
Security Boulevard
Ticketmaster has alerted thousands of UK-based customers that it has learned of a security breach in which their payment information may have been exposed. In a statement on its website, the popular ticketing service stated that it recently identified malicious software on a customer support product hosted by an external third-party supplier – Inbenta Technologies. “As soon as we discovered the malicious software, we disabled the Inbenta product across all Ticketmaster websites,” said the company.
Security Boulevard
A disgruntled employee at Tesla has caused “extensive and damaging sabotage,” according to the company’s CEO Elon Musk. In an email sent to employees late Sunday night, Musk revealed an employee had broken into the company’s computer systems in an effort to disrupt operations. The message, as first reported by CNBC, stated the employee made direct code changes to the Tesla Manufacturing Operating System using false usernames.
Security Boulevard
Federal authorities have arrested dozens of alleged fraudsters in an international takedown of Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes. According to the Department of Justice, a total of 74 individuals were arrested, including 43 in the US, 29 in Nigeria, and three in Canada, Mauritius and Poland.
Security Boulevard
With only a few weeks until the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) goes into effect, many businesses are finding themselves at risk of missing the deadline and facing hefty fines. According to a recent study conducted by Cordium and AmberGate, more than 50 percent of investment firms globally are unlikely to be ready in advance of the regulation’s implementation date – May 25, 2018.
Security Boulevard
The City of London police introduced a new initiative on Monday aimed at helping local businesses defend themselves against cyber threats. Called Cyber Griffin, the initiative is based around three key deliverables, including free-of-charge threat briefings, incident response exercises and advisory groups. Starting June 29, police officers will deliver threat briefings throughout the year to teach attendees basic cyber defender skills.
Security Boulevard
Now in its 11th installment, Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) is a must-read for cybersecurity professionals across the globe. The 2018 edition dives deep into more than 53,000 real incidents and 2,216 confirmed data breaches with the ultimate goal of informing defenders on the threats they face and how to protect against them. The 68-page report is available for download here, but if you’re looking for the key takeaways, we’ve highlighted some of this year’s key findings below.
Security Boulevard
Ransomware is still rampant across organizations worldwide, with roughly 56 percent of businesses experiencing a ransomware attack in the last 12 months, new research revealed. The findings come from SentinelOne’s 2018 Global Ransomware Study conducted by Vanson Bourne, which surveyed 500 businesses in the UK, France, Germany and the United States. Of the organizations affected by ransomware in the past year, participants said they responded to an average of five attacks during that time period.
Security Boulevard
The city of Atlanta’s computer network is reportedly experiencing outages, which are believed to have been caused by a targeted cyber-attack. According to Atlanta-based news station 11Alive, multiple sources familiar with the situation confirmed that various city systems had been impacted.
Security Boulevard
The oil and gas sector in the Middle East has become a top target for cybercriminals, enduring 50 percent of all cyber-attacks in the region, revealed a new report. The study, conducted by industrial giant Siemens and the Ponemon Institute, polled around 200 individuals in the Middle East responsible for securing or overseeing cyber risk in oil and gas companies.
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A US-based power company has agreed to pay a $2.7 million penalty after inadvertently exposing sensitive data online and violating energy industry cybersecurity standards. According to an electronic filing by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) on Feb. 28, the unnamed utility reached the settlement with power regulators despite neither admitting nor denying the violations.
Security Boulevard
Yahoo has agreed to pay $80 million to settle a federal securities class action lawsuit following the massive data breaches that compromised the personal information of three billion users. The suit was filed by several shareholders in January 2017, alleging the web services provider intentionally misled them about its cybersecurity practices, in turn, causing the company’s stock prices to drop.
Security Boulevard
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro is suing Uber for failing to promptly disclose a data breach that exposed the personal information of thousands of drivers in the state. The incident dates back to November 2017, when it was reported that the company went to great lengths to cover up a massive breach in 2016 by paying hackers $100,000 to dispose of the data. The compromise impacted roughly 50 million Uber users worldwide and another 7 million drivers.
Security Boulevard
A massive data breach at the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve has leaked the personal information of more than 20,000 Marines and civilians. According to reports, the compromised data included highly sensitive information, such as truncated Social Security numbers; bank electronic funds transfer and bank routing numbers; truncated credit card information; mailing address; residential address and emergency contact details.
Security Boulevard
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the establishment of a new cybersecurity office to help protect and prepare the energy sector, including the oil and gas industry. Named the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response, or CESER, the new office received nearly $96 million in funding for the 2019 fiscal year.
New iOS Bug Crashes Apple Devices, Blocks Access to Apps and iMessages - Security Boulevard
A new bug in certain versions of Apple’s operating system can cause iPhones, Macs and even Apple Watches to crash, blocking access to iMessages and other popular apps. As reported by Italian blog Mobile World, the bug affects devices running iOS11 when an Indian language (Telugu) character is received or simply typed in a text field. […]… Read More The post New iOS Bug Crashes Apple Devices, Blocks Access to Apps and iMessages appeared first on The State of Security.
New ‘UDPoS’ Malware Exfiltrates Credit Card Details via DNS Server - Security Boulevard
Researchers have identified a new strain of point-of-sale (PoS) malware that impersonates a LogMeIn service pack to steal credit card data via a DNS server. According to security firm Forcepoint, the malware – dubbed “UDPoS” – is unusual in that it generates a large amount of UDP-based DNS traffic to exfiltrate magnetic strip payment card details.
Ukraine Power Distributor to Invest $20M in New Cyber Defense System - Security Boulevard
Ukrainian state power distributor Ukrenergo announced on Tuesday its plans to invest up to $20 million to boost its cybersecurity. According to Reuters, chief executive Vsevolod Kovalchuk said the company is working to implement a new cyber defense system by 2020, including new software and “administrative actions.” In a briefing, Kovalchuk told reporters that Ukrenergo and international consultants had identified roughly 20 threats – however, all would be neutralized with the new system.
Facebook’s New Policy Bans All Ads Promoting Cryptocurrencies - Security Boulevard
Facebook announced on Tuesday its plans to ban all ads that promote Bitcoin and other digital currency exchanges, initial coin offerings (ICOs) and binary options. The social network said the new policy aims to protect users from scams, describing such financial services as “frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices.” “We want people to continue to discover and learn about new products and services through Facebook ads without fear of scams or deception.
UK Critical Infrastructure Firms Could Face £17m Fine for Inadequate Cybersecurity - Security Boulevard
Organizations operating critical infrastructure could face hefty fines of up to £17m if they lack adequate cybersecurity measures, the UK government announced over the weekend. The penalties would apply to energy, transport, water and health firms that “fail to have the most robust safeguards in place against cyber attack,” the UK government said in a press release. “New regulators will be able to assess critical industries to make sure plans are as robust as possible,” the announcement read.
Facebook Offering $100K Grants to Fund Internet Security Projects - Security Boulevard
Facebook announced on Monday the launch of a new grant program, inviting university researchers, nonprofits and NGOs to submit research proposals for improving online security. The initiative, named “Secure the Internet Grants,” will award funding of up to $100,000 for innovative technologies aimed to combat phishing, detect and report abuse, improve security in emerging markets, among other focus areas.
Uber Reportedly Ignored Security Flaw That Grants Hackers Access to User Accounts - Security Boulevard
Uber is under fire for reportedly dismissing a security flaw that can allow hackers to bypass the app’s two-factor authentication (2FA) and gain unauthorized access to user accounts. A New Delhi-based security researcher, Karan Saini, discovered the flaw and filed a report with HackerOne, which administers the ride-hailing app’s bug bounty program.
5X More Mac OS X Malware Seen in 2015 Than Ever Before
According to recent research, 2015 saw a record number of Mac OS X malware attacks, with experts confidently expecting the number to continue to soar significantly in the coming months. Security researchers at Bit9 + Carbon Black observed that in 2015 alone, the number of OS X malware samples has been five times greater than in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 combined.
This Week in Security: Oct. 19
Our security roundup series covers the week’s trending topics in the world of InfoSec. In this quick-read compilation, we’ll let you know of the latest news and controversies that the industry has been talking about recently.
October 12-16, 2015
Our security roundup series covers the week’s trending topics in the world of InfoSec. In this quick-read compilation, we’ll let you know of the latest news and controversies that the industry has been talking about recently.
WordPress Patches Critical Zero-Day Flaw
The popular blogging platform has released a security update to mitigate a recently discovered critical zero-day flaw potentially impacting millions of WordPress websites. Finland-based security researcher Jouko Pynnönen disclosed on Sunday that current versions (4.2 and earlier) of WordPress were vulnerable to a stored cross site scripting (XSS) bug, which allowed an unauthenticated attacker to inject JavaScript in WordPress comments and ultimately, control the server remotely.
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