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U.K. Firms “very unprepared” for data breaches

Telecommunication companies say they expect the number of breaches to rise over the next year and around 75% of these companies are wary that this is the case.

The study, undertaken by analyst firm Ovum, and commissioned by analytics software firm FICO, found that although 53% of U.K. executives believe there will be a growth in attempts to access data, less than half of firms are likely to direct their resources to enhancing cyber-security. This approach is clearly dangerous and reckless.

They’re aware that more and more people are trying to access data, but they seem to forget that, without effective cyber-security, more and more data breaches will be inevitable.
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University of East Anglia under fire for leaking sensitive and confidential data about students

The University of East Anglia has been hit with anger and disappointment from students and the general public after it was revealed that a member of staff made a horrific error in sending out a spreadsheet listing named students’ extenuating circumstances.

The spreadsheet identified the 40 students by name and student ID number and had their private and confidential information with their names. The list of circumstances included things like family illness and bereavements; mental health problems including depression; and sexual assault cases.

We have already been contacted for advice and we’re investigating the issues.
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Yahoo’s CISO responds to data breach questions

Sometimes the Chief Information Security Officer’s (CISO) role is hidden in the shadows, and they may generally be unheard of. However, Yahoo’s CISO, Bob Lord, has been in the limelight in recent years after two massive data breaches – arguably the biggest ones in recent history – that affected approximately a billion and a half of Yahoo’s users.

Mr Lord made jokes during an interview at TechCrunch Disrupt New York saying that he “may have broken a record” for the amount of emails sent. The email that circulated was to inform users of the breach.

Not sure the rest of us are finding this funny…
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“Target” to pay $18.5 million settlement for 2013 data breach

Target has agreed to pay out a whopping $18.5 million to U.S customers after a nationwide data breach.

Millions of customers had their personal information compromised back in 2013.

The data breach affected customers’ contact, account, and billing information. It’s believed that a total of 60 million customers were affected.
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DocuSign data breach puts users at risk

DocuSign – the company that lets users ‘sign’ documents digitally – has admitted they have been hacked.

During the data breach, hackers managed to take user email addresses, and cyber-criminals haven’t wasted any time as multiple users have already reportedly fallen victim to phishing emails.

The lack of delay means that DocuSign didn’t even have time to warn users that their information was compromised and to look out for “malicious third party” activity. Reportedly, users were enticed to click on a harmless looking Microsoft Word document, but the document contained certain malware to steal passwords and banking information.
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Ffrees customer personal information has been exposed in a data breach

Ffrees is an online banking service that lets customers transfer money into their Ffrees account for discounted shopping, where users may benefit from discounts on purchases in various shops

Recently, they have come under fire for data protection and compliance issues.

Ffrees have previously come under scrutiny for their terms and conditions, but now it seems the company has failed to secure their customers’ personal information following a cyber security incident.
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Most UK businesses expect to be a data breach victim this year

According to IT Pro Portal, the “majority of UK businesses expect a data breach this year”.

For those who follow this blog, this probably isn’t news at all…

In the past few years, data breaches are becoming so common that they’re almost a norm. Businesses in the UK are being targeted more and more; either directly or with certain malware worms that seek out vulnerable servers.
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Yahoo exposed for not cooperating with data breach investigations

Multinational technology company ‘Yahoo’ hasn’t seen the end to the ongoing criticisms since the first cyber-attack in 2013.

On 11^th May 2017, Germany’s federal cyber agency The German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) noted Yahoo was being uncooperative in their investigation into a series of cyber-hacks that compromised approximately 1 billion accounts between 2013 and 2016.

According to the BSI, an additional 32 million Yahoo users were affected by cyber-breaches in 2015 and 2016, but have yet to hear of any cyber-breaches affecting Yahoo users in 2017.

When will it end?
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New York medical records discovered on an unsecured server

Medical records are known to be a treasure trove for hackers. Once cyber-criminals have access to these, they can sell them on the black market for up to $10 (£7.67) per record, according to Anthony James at U.S. security firm, TrapX.

But it seems cyber-criminals don’t have to hack into computer systems to access records as a ‘huge trove’ of confidential U.S. medical records were found on an unsecured server; accessible to malicious hackers and cyber-security professionals.
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Starbucks shifts data protection responsibility onto customers

The Starbucks saga continues…

Customers of Starbucks have been struck by multiple counts of fraudulent activity in recent weeks. Like many modern businesses, Starbucks was not prepared to be left behind in the digital world. So, they created an app where customers can easily purchase drinks and snacks on their phones. Around a third of all purchases are reportedly now made through this popular and easy to use app, and whilst the app is responsible for $1 billion worth of purchases, Starbucks have arguably overlooked key security measures.
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