We focus on the latest news surrounding data breaches, leaks and hacks plus daily internet security articles.
The massive November 2016 Tesco data breach has led to a ground-breaking fine issued in the sum of £16.4m.
The fine has been issued by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). It’s understood that this is the first time that the FCA has issued a fine for an online fraud incident.
The level of the fine is thought to reflect the severity of the Tesco data breach. This was an avoidable incident that arose from Tesco’s lax security. The incident led to customers of Tesco Bank losing millions of pounds in stolen funds.
This is a huge breach. Some 380,000 payment card details have been exposed in the British Airways data breach that was revealed yesterday.
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Customers are being notified if they’re affected, and our Data Leak Lawyers are on the case to advise anyone who has been affected. Any data breach involving credit and debit cards being compromised – which is the case in the British Airways data breach – can put victims at an immediate risk of fraud.
Since British Airways started outsourcing IT operations, a number of issues and incidents have reportedly occurred, although it’s not yet known whether there’s a link between the outsourcing and the data theft revealed yesterday.
The recent Ticketmaster cyber attack we’ve launched an action for may just be the beginning as hackers are reportedly ready to attack again.
The Ticketmaster cyber attack was successful because the hackers were able to install malicious code into third-party software that Ticketmaster were using as part of their payment process. Inbenta, the authors of the code, say they didn’t know Ticketmaster were using their code for this purpose, and had they have known, they say they would have recommended against it on the grounds of security issues.
The growing trend of hackers looking to attack third-party code means the huge Ticketmaster cyber attack may well be just the beginning.
The apparent Superdrug data breach has led to as many as 20,000 victims being held to ransom as hackers threaten to release information reportedly stolen in the breach.
Superdrug say they were contacted last week by hackers threatening to expose the personal data of customers affected by a breach. Hundreds of accounts appear to have been compromised so far as hackers have reportedly been able to verify the data they hold.
It’s assumed that a ransom is being demanded, although the details of any payment demands have not been made clear.
Ransomware attacks are still on the rise, and we all have every reason to be very worried about the increasing trends we’re seeing.
According to at least one piece of recent research, 2018 has already seen double the rate of ransomware attacks so far, but what’s equally as concerning is that the attacks are changing tact to go for bigger targets to demand higher ransoms, and the hackers are enjoying success.
It’s a sign of the times, and we all need to be very careful to make sure we protect ourselves from the growing risks of ransomware attacks.
Cybersecurity is not a priority for most businesses in the UK, results from recent research has indicated.
Despite us being in a time where the importance of cybersecurity has never been more prevalent, businesses are still not showing the respect to cybersecurity that it deserves. In fact, recent research suggested that just 10pc of UK businesses see cybersecurity as their biggest challenge to economic success, despite 2018 being the big year of the GDPR changes.
With the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) now having the power to fine data breach offenders up to £17m, how cybersecurity is not a priority is incredibly baffling.
The recent Booking.com WhatsApp and text fraud operation showed precisely what criminals can do with enough data at their disposal.
According to the media reports in the aftermath of the Booking.com WhatsApp and text issue, criminals were looking to reap hundreds of thousands of pounds in ill-gotten gains by duping people into thinking they were Booking.com by using personalised messages that were said to have looked genuine, and included personal data.
Some people reportedly fell for the scam and lost money as a result, and we understand that Booking.com has committed to compensating victims.
As the technology and use of unmanned aerial vehicles continues to grow, drone jacking could be the next big data breach risk.
Drones are already used in a number of industries: engineers use them for surveillance; insurance companies reportedly use them for monitoring; and Amazon want to use them to deliver packages to the doorsteps of homes around the world.
Our concerns are simple: if organisations can’t even get data protection right on a systems and software level, how are they going to get it right when it comes to potentially dangerous drones?
Almost half of businesses in the UK manufacturing industry have reported cyber-attacks, with the UK manufacturing industry described as somewhat of an easy target.
We don’t often see manufacturers in the news for data breaches and cyber-attacks, but this date from a recent study shows that there is a worrying trend of it being a common problem in the industry.
The UK manufacturing industry is reportedly among the least-protected sector in the UK.
Scams and fraud from data breaches and data leaks are common. In fact, scams and fraud are common anyway, with more than 10,000 cases reported last year, which was a five percent rise on the previous year.
It can be so easy for people to fall victim to scams and fraud that stem from data breaches, so the big question is how people can protect themselves, and what the organisations who hold our money – and data – can do to protect us as well. The burden of responsibility is a two-way street, and there is plenty that banks and organisations can do to better protect us.
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