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Possible Yahoo data breach being investigated

Yahoo are currently investigating the potential data leak by the hacker who was linked to the “mega-breaches” of MySpace and LinkedIn; a topic we recently covered.

The hacker has allegedly posted the details of 200 million Yahoo accounts onto the ‘dark web’ and is selling them for three bitcoins (£1,360).

The hacker is using the same name – ‘Peace’ – that was used from the 2012 data leaks, which makes the hacker “most likely” to be the same person. Yahoo is currently “working to determine the facts” and are taking the claim “very seriously”.
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ATM Chip and Pin hack revealed at Black Hat conference

While chip and pin is widely used in Europe, the US has only just started to use the technology.

Concerns across the pond are that this makes them a new target for hackers, according to researchers at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas.

They demonstrated how hackers were able to use mostly unmodified ATM machines to dispense hundreds of dollars -similar to how hackers would possibly use the machines.
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Wolverhampton Council suffers huge data leak

Wolverhampton council are reportedly at the centre of a huge data leak when almost 10,000 peoples private information was mistakenly emailed to the wrong person.

In November 2015, Wolverhampton council sought a report from its payroll department. Due to an error, 9,858 people’s personal data was sent to an external third party by accident.

Those affected by the mistake included 73 education establishments, although it is not clear if the data released was about Wolverhampton city’s schools and teachers. The data leaked was on a spreadsheet containing personal information, and it has not been said if those who have had their privacy rights breached have been informed.
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Cyber Crime affects 1 in 10 UK Adults, reports say

The annual Crime Survey for England and Wales has been published by the Office of National Statistics. Worryingly, the figures show that 5.8 million incidents that are classed as cyber crime impact 1 in 10 adults.

The internet offers us a lot of convenience and most people fully embrace it. It is the level of trust that we have in the online world that can open us up to cyber crime though. Crime is changing, and as more and more of our personal details end up online, criminals are taking full advantage of any possible vulnerabilities.

This can lead to fraud, hacking, and other cyber crimes – problems which are on the rise.
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Information Commissioner Office (ICO) recent reports in to public sector data breaches

The Information Commissioner Office is the UK’s independent body that upholds information rights (https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/who-we-are/). They cover different legislation and handle tens of thousands of enquires, complaints, and concerns that are made each year. They take action and investigate how organisations handle data.

Where bodies fail to meet requirements of legislation, the ICO can do different things which include; prosecute those who commit criminal offences under the Act; report to Parliament on issues of concerns; or conduct investigations to assess and check if organisations are complying with the Act.

As Data Leak Lawyers we can occasionally work with them, but our role is to help properly compensate victims of data leaks, breaches, and hacks. A lot of the work they cover is relevant for what we do though.
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Industry Reaction to O2 Data Hack

O2 customer data was found for sale on the dark web from a hack that reportedly took place several years ago. The data was supposedly obtained from gaming website XSplit.

Log-in details were stolen from XSplit, and were then matched with a number of O2 accounts, allowing the hackers access to customer’s personal information. This is known as credential stuffing.

As so many people are online and reuse the same usernames and passwords, even though we are told not to, this hack has made people vulnerable to further problems. The hacker’s accessed customer’s personal information such as phone numbers, emails, and their date of birth. You can read more on this story here.

Today, we’ll be looking at the industry’s reaction to the hack.
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Thwarting data breaches is an everyday mission for IT Managers

Data security provider WinMagic conducted a study that found one in four IT managers attempt to stop a data breach every single day and that almost half of all employees believed that IT security was solely the responsibility of the IT department. Only 37% believe they play a role in IT security – two very alarming statistics.

The study found that a quarter of IT managers believe that, whilst hackers are the biggest security risk to organisations, the next biggest security risk was in fact employees. This is further enforced by the report that found a third of IT managers only want certain employees that have been given clearance to use personal devices.

This is not surprising when 17% of employees admit that they would open an attachment from an unknown sender.

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DARPA launches Cyber Grand Challenge for next generation software

The Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), an investor in breakthrough technologies, looks set on its next great Cyber Grand Challenge of developing software that is able to spot and protect vulnerabilities in programmes before hackers are even aware they are there.

Due to the complexity of modern software, and given there is a need for quick fixes as more and more devices are connected to the internet become available, all of these devices will be used in vast quantities will not be able to have a sufficient defences against threats. This is the Cyber Grand Challenge that DARPA is taking on – to stop hackers in their tracks before vulnerabilities even come to light!
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Wireless keyboards – are they safe from hackers?

For those of us who have invested in a wireless keyboard, this blog, might be a bit concerning as recent reports have suggested that they could be vulnerable to hackers who are able to see every word typed from hundreds of feet away.

First some good news : Bluetooth Wireless keyboards are generally encrypted, so anyone trying to intercept what was being transmitted from the keyboard to the computer would be unable to decipher it.

Now, the not-so-good news : However, in an investigation that was carried out by cyber security company Bastille, they found that hackers could clearly intercept everything that was being typed on certain low-cost wireless keyboards.

You really don’t need me to let you know that unencrypted wireless keyboards may allow hackers access to passwords, bank details, and anything else typed.
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SwiftKey ‘glitch’ a potential data leak?

SwiftKey is a device for both IOS and Android systems such like smart phones and tablets. It has a database that stores commonly used words and phrases used by the owner. When the user is typing, SwiftKey can offer suggestions on what words to use. This can include things like email addresses, names, and phone numbers commonly used.

Last week it was reported that users of SwiftKey had been experiencing problems when using the keyboard. Users of the keyboard reported that they were receiving other people’s suggestions, which also included personal information like email addresses, phone numbers, and names. There were also reports of word suggestions in different languages that users had not used before.
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