In cybersecurity news this week: Even tech giants have basic cybersecurity woes, third-party data breaches put every business at risk, and a webinar featuring 5 steps to success.
Cybersecurity News: Dark Web ID’s Top Threats
- Top Source Hits: ID Theft Forum
- Top Compromise Type: Domain
- Top Industry: Finance & Insurance
- Top Employee Count: 251-500
Cybersecurity News: United States
United States – Twitter
Exploit: Account Compromise
Twitter: Social Media Platform
Risk to Small Business: 1.216 = Extreme
The hack heard ‘round the world this week is a huge embarrassment for social media powerhouse Twitter, after dozens of high-profile accounts were accessed illegally and used to transmit messages inviting their followers to “invest” in a bitcoin scam. Some of the affected accounts included Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos. The hack was quickly discovered, and those accounts were frozen briefly while Twitter assessed and fixed the security flaw. Twitter is now reporting that the hackers targeted 130 accounts, were able to take control of 45, and 8 accounts had data downloaded. While early reports speculated on the threat actors as a sophisticated hacking group, The New York Times uncovered that the attack was actually carried out by a few unorganized hackers using a Discord server who obtained access through a “social engineering attack”. The attack is under investigation by numerous authorities including the FBI.
Individual Risk: 2.890 = Moderate
The hackers were able to obtain some personal information and change passwords for some of the celebrity accounts, but did not gain access to any financial information, past password records, or other sensitive data in all but 8 cases. Those 8 cases are still being investigated, but it’s unlikely that any sensitive data was compromised.
Customers Impacted: 130
How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: A “social engineering attack” is often just a fancy way of saying “phishing attack”. Failing to protect sensitive communications and data channels for your clients because of failing to undertake basic training in phishing resistance will not only cause an expensive recovery when an attack lands, it can also be embarrassing. Plus, the potential regulatory scrutiny is bound to be a headache and give ammunition to those who are looking to add more regulation to social media platforms through future legislation.
ID Agent to the Rescue: Phishing resistance training is a must for any organization. Bolster your clients’ defense against phishing with BullPhish ID, featuring constantly updated training with video content for today’s biggest threats including COVID-19 threats.
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United States – BlackBaud
Exploit: Ransomware
BlackBaud: Cloud Services & Financial Technology
Risk to Small Business: 2.177 = Severe
BlackBaud admitted that its’ success in preventing a recent ransomware attack in May 2020 wasn’t quite as straightforward as it seemed. It turns out that they did pay a ransom to the hackers, but not to decrypt files. The ransom was paid to prevent the release of the stolen data in an increasingly popular double-extortion ransomware scheme. The cloud provider, which primarily works with non-profits, foundations, educational charities, and healthcare organizations, said the incident only impacted the data of only a small subset of its customers, which they have now notified.
Individual Risk: 2.797 = Moderate
According to BlackBaud’s statement about the incident, no credit card information, bank account information, or Social Security numbers were stolen.
Customers Impacted: Unknown
United States – MyCastingFile.com
Exploit: Unsecured Database
MyCastingFile.com: Entertainment Staffing Platform
Risk to Small Business: 1.643 = Severe
Researchers discovered an unsecured Elasticsearch database owned by MyCastingFile.com and filled with information about clients of the casting agency, including current and aspiring actors. It’s estimated that the breach started on May 31 and wasn’t addressed until mid-June. The New Orleans based company acted quickly after they were informed of the problem, but still suffered a breach estimated to be 1GB in size, with over 260,000 user profiles leaked of clients, actors, and members of staff, including minors.
Individual Risk: 2.349 = Severe
The leak included names, physical addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, work histories, dates of birth, height and weight, ethnicity, and physical descriptions. Anyone with a profile at the platform should be alert for potential identity theft and spear phishing attempts.
Customers Impacted: 260,000
How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: Failure to secure a database is a rookie move, and no company’s clients are going to look at that kindly – especially when that failure involved children. Customers today are concerned about data privacy, and
more aware of Dark Web danger than they used to be – and they will not want to continue doing business with companies that can’t keep their information safe.
ID Agent to the Rescue: Dark Web activity has never been higher, and in the wake of the global pandemic, the Dark Web has changed just as much as the rest of the world. Get an overview of what’s happening on the Dark Web now and how that can affect your clients’ security in our eBook “State of the Dark Web 2020”.
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United States – LiveAuctioneers
Exploit: Unauthorized Database Access
LiveAuctioneers: Online Antiques Auction House
Risk to Small Business: 2.172 = Severe
LiveAuctioneers has reported a major data breach courtesy of one of its third-party data processing partners. The company first noted the incident on July 10, 2020, after monitors spotted Dark Web posts advertising the sale of the company’s records company records of 3.4 million LiveAuctioneers users, as well as three million cracked username and password combinations.
Individual Risk: 2.172 = Severe
While no financial data has been reported as compromised, the investigation is still ongoing. Those affected have been notified via email. Every user should reset their account password and be alert to potential identity theft.
Customers Impacted: 3.4 million
How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: Third party risk is a growing menace that’s hard for businesses to overcome. By maintaining a constant watch on Dark Web markets, businesses can get notified when credentials, including those used in accounts at third party partners, suffer a breach, lowering their risk of compromise from the stolen information.
ID Agent to the Rescue: Dark Web ID monitors the Dark Web 24/7/365 using Channel-leading human and machine analysis to find compromised business credentials and report it to your clients fast, to keep cybersecurity incidents from becoming cybersecurity disasters.
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Cybersecurity News: United Kingdom
United Kingdom – Tesco
Exploit: Phishing/Impersonation
Tesco: Grocery Retailer
Risk to Small Business: 2.877 = Moderate
Retail giant Tesco was recently used as a front for an elaborate phishing operation that used a fake Facebook page as well as SMS and email communication to trick consumers into handing over their details and steal confidential and payment data as part of a fake giveaway for a new HD TV. Facebook users who shared the post helped it spread. Victims received an email offering them the chance to “register to claim their prize. A button in the message then linked victims to a landing page to enter their name, home address, telephone number, and bank account details.
Individual Risk: 2.667 = Moderate
The Facebook portion of the scam was shut down quickly, but some consumers did fall for the email, providing bad actors with personal and financial data, and the scam may still be circulating via email.
Customers Impacted: Unknown
How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: In a booming Dark Web economy,
everything is for sale. Your client’s brand is just as valuable as their data. Digital risk protection can’t stop impersonation schemes, but it can prevent bad actors from masquerading as your client in Dark Web forums or on social media if your client is alerted to the problem quickly enough.
ID Agent to the Rescue: Convincing clients that they need to extend or upgrade their digital risk protection can be difficult at the best of times, and this economy adds an extra challenge. We’re here to help. With Goal Assist, our sales team acts as your backup on tough sales calls to provide the extra support that scores the win.
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Cybersecurity News – European Union
France – Orange
Exploit: Ransomware
Orange: Telecom Provider
Risk to Small Business: 2.323 = Severe
French telecommunications giant Orange has confirmed that they suffered a data breach affecting customers in their Orange Business Services Division. The Nefilim ransomware group added Orange to its data leak site on July 15, 2020. Orange noted that it was quickly able to mitigate the attack and stop the leak, but some business clients had their data captured by the hackers. No mention of a ransom or payment was released by Orange.
Individual Risk: No individual personal or financial data has been reported as compromised, but no details have been released about the contents of those 20 compromised enterprise accounts.
Customers Impacted: Unknown
How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: Ransomware is everywhere these days, and cybercriminals are often choosing to make more targeted attacks than in the past to lower their chances of quick detection. Every company needs to make defending against ransomware a top security training priority.
ID Agent to the Rescue: The most common vehicle of delivery for ransomware is through email. Keep those attacks from landing with phishing resistance training using a dynamic solution like BullPhish ID – with training available in 8 languages.
LEARN MORE>>
Belgium – Argenta Bank
Exploit: Malware
Argenta Bank: Banking and Financial Services
Risk to Small Business: 1.778 = Severe
Argenta Bank is the latest victim of an increasingly popular malware attack, jackpotting. In these schemes, cybercriminals infect operating systems for ATM machines, turning them into free money fountains. These very precise attacks require specific knowledge and technical skills, and the machines affected were manufactured by Diebold Nixdorf. The bank was forced to turn off 143 machines at various times over two days.
Individual Risk: No consumer personal or financial data was reported as stolen in this breach.
Customers Impacted: Unknown
Cybersecurity News – Australia & New Zealand
Australia – Western Australia Department of Health
Exploit: Unauthorized Database Access
Western Australia Department of Health: Government Agency
Risk to Small Business: 2.227 = Severe
Confidential data from the state’s Department of Health was made publicly available on a website after it was distributed over a third-party paging service. Security researchers discovered that a website was recently set up which provided confidential information about Western Australian patients and doctors, including those with suspected COVID-19 infections. The State Government and Western Australia Police are working to have the site taken down, but it was still up as of a recent check.
Individual Risk: 2.623 = Moderate
No financial information was reported stolen, but sensitive health data may have been compromised. Affected users should be alert for potential spear phishing attempts or blackmail using this data.
Customers Impacted: Unknown
How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: Health data is extremely valuable right now,
especially COVID-19 related data. Both private companies and international threat actors are paying top dollar for research and treatment data as healthcare organizations race to find a lucrative vaccine or treatment that works against COVID-19. This incident combines a third-party data breach with a reliance on outdated technology to create trouble.
ID Agent to the Rescue: As
password fraud is often a gateway to other cybercrime, it pays to put an additional layer of protection between data thieves and critical information and systems with Passly. The powerful combination of multifactor authentication, single sign on, and easy remote management makes it simple to make sure that access is safely controlled fast.
LEARN MORE>
Cybersecurity News: South America
Argentina – Telecom Argentina
Exploit: Ransomware
Telecom Argentina: Telecom and Internet Service Provider
Risk to Small Business: 2.870 = Severe
REvil gang attackers made a bold foray into Telecom Argentina last week, culminating in successfully gaining entry to an internal Domain Administration account, giving them free access to deploy their ransomware payload to more than 18,000 workstations. The company moved quickly to combat the incident, and alerted workers to the danger of potentially corporate network, not to connect to its internal VPN network, and not open emails containing archive files.
Individual Risk: No individual personal or financial data is reported as affected at this time.
Customers Impacted: Unknown
How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: Administrator accounts are often compromised through
whaling, a type of phishing – and an expressway for cybercriminals to race into the heart of a business. Combat that risk by putting extra protections in place like multifactor authentication that help keep administrator accounts safe.
ID Agent to the Rescue: As
password fraud is often a gateway to other cybercrime, it pays to put an additional layer of protection between data thieves and critical information and systems with Passly. The powerful combination of multifactor authentication, single sign on, and easy remote management makes it simple to make sure that access is safely controlled fast.
LEARN MORE>
Cybersecurity News – Asia
Hong Kong – UFO VPN
Exploit: Unsecured Database
UFO VPN: Virtual Private Network Host/ Provider
Risk to Small Business: 1.086 = Extreme
Users who were relying on VPN provider UFO for a safe, anonymous way to secure their communications and data got a nasty surprise this week. Researchers uncovered more than 20 million user logs from the company available on the Dark Web. It’s a double reputation blow for a VPN provider that claims to retain no login or usage information. The 894 GB database was reportedly hosted on an Elasticsearch cluster that was not even password protected. The data allegedly included plaintext passwords, IP addresses, timestamps of user connections, session tokens, device information, and user operating system types, along with geographical information in the form of tags.
Individual Risk: 1.910 = Severe
Anyone who has used the service for a VPN should be concerned about compromise, spear phishing, identity theft, blackmail, or fraud connected to this event.
How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: Securing a remote workforce can be complex, especially as communications tools become more easily compromised,
like messaging and SMS text. One common security measure that companies take when setting up for remote work is encouraging staffers to connect through a VPN. Failing to adequately investigate the safety record of that VPN provider could create additional risk instead of decreasing it.
ID Agent to the Rescue: As
password fraud is often a gateway to other cybercrime, it pays to put an additional layer of protection between data thieves and critical information and systems with Passly. The powerful combination of multifactor authentication, single sign on, and easy remote management makes it simple to make sure that access is safely controlled fast.
LEARN MORE>
The Week in Breach Risk Levels
1 – 1.5 = Extreme Risk
1.51 – 2.49 = Severe Risk
2.5 – 3 = Moderate Risk
Risk scores for The Week in Breach are calculated using a formula that considers a wide range of factors related to the assessed breach.
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