The Week in Breach News: 03/24/21 – 03/30/21
This Week in Breach News:
Hobby Lobby’s mistakes pack a high cost, Australia’s Channel 9 News gets knocked off the air by a cyberattack, production at Sierra Wireless gets held up by ransomware, a look at what the FBI IC3 report means for your business plus a new webinar that reviews lessons learned from the global pandemic – and how to be ready for the next disaster.
United States – Hobby Lobby
https://threatpost.com/hobby-lobby-customer-data-cloud-misconfiguration/164980/
Exploit: Misconfiguration
Hobby Lobby: Craft Supply Retailer
Risk to Business: 1.662= Severe
Hobby Lobby made a blunder that was discovered this week. Researchers came across an Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud database belonging to the controversial retailer that was misconfigured to be publicly accessible exposing 138GB of sensitive information.
Individual Risk : 1.707 = Severe
Exposed data includes customer names, partial payment card details, phone numbers, physical and email addresses along with source code for the company’s app, and employee names and email addresses. This information can be used for spear phishing and identity theft.
Customers Impacted: 300,000
How It Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: Making simple, avoidable blunders like this doesn’t fill your customers with confidence that you’re taking information privacy seriously.
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United States – CNA Financial
Exploit: Ransomware
CNA Financial: Insurer
Risk to Business: 1.627 = Severe
Major insurer CNA Financial has disclosed that it was the victim of a purported ransomware attack this week, causing significant network disruption. The company’s email systems have been offline and the underwriting and claims units have been stymied, likely due to systems becoming unavailable. CNA said that they were disconnecting systems for safety and working to restore operations.
Individual Impact: No sensitive personal or financial information was announced as impacted in this incident, but the investigation is ongoing.
Customers Impacted: Unknown
How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business Ransomware is the cause of many expensive disasters and they don’t all involve data. Cybercriminals can also hold your business operations hostage.
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United States – California State Controller
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/03/phish-leads-to-breach-at-calif-state-controller/
Exploit: Phishing
California State Controller: State Government Agency
Risk to Business: 2.412 = Severe
A phishing attack last week gave attackers access to email and files at the California State Controller’s Office (SCO). The agency announced that attackers had access to the email records of an employee in its Unclaimed Property Division after the employee clicked a phishing link and then entered their email ID and password.
Individual Risk: 2.309 = Severe
The breach may have led to the exposure of personal and financial data for thousands of state employees. There is also evidence that the account was used to conduct business email compromise scams.
Customers Impacted: Unknown
How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: Something as simple as one mishandled email can wreak havoc on your business. No matter how busy you are, training has to be a priority to avoid this consequence.
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United States – PDI Group
https://therecord.media/ransomware-gang-leaks-data-from-us-military-contractor-the-pdi-group/
Exploit: Ransomware
PDI Group: Defense Contractor
Risk to Business: 2.412 = Severe
US military contractor PDI Group has experienced a ransomware attack, with Babuk Locker claiming responsibility. the gang says that they have 700 GB of data they claim to have stolen from PDI’s internal network and they have made ransom demands after posting a sample to their site. PDI Group manufactures specialty trailers, dollies and other transport tools for multiple military applications.
Individual Impact: No sensitive personal or financial information was announced as impacted in this incident, but the investigation is ongoing.
Customers Impacted: Unknown
How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: Failing to protect the secrets of your success like blueprints and formulas is a fast path to trouble when your competitors can download them from dark web sources.
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Canada – Sierra Wireless
https://therecord.media/production-halted-at-sierra-wireless-factories-following-ransomware-attack/
Exploit: Ransomware
Sierra Wireless: Electronics Manufacturing
Risk to Business: 1.302 = Extreme
Canadian electronics giant Sierra Wireless has halted production at its manufacturing sites across the world after a ransomware attack crippled its IT systems. The disruption has kept staff from accessing internal documents and systems related to manufacturing and planning. Investigation and remediation are ongoing.
Individual Impact: No sensitive personal or financial information was announced as compromised in this incident, but the investigation is ongoing.
Customers Impacted: Unknown
How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: Ransomware can cause catastrophic delays in production, crippling factories. Preventing it from hitting systems is just as important as protecting data.
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United Kingdom – Fat Face
https://www.inforisktoday.com/british-clothing-retailer-fat-face-discloses-data-breach-a-16249
Exploit: Malware
Fat Face: Clothing Retailer
Risk to Business: 1.802 = Severe
Retail boutique Fat Face has disclosed that it experienced a data breach in January. According to the shop a third party accessed data, probably through malware, and obtained some employee and customer information. The incident is still under review.
Risk to Business: 1.802 = Severe
The organization says that some employee and customer information was exposed, including names, addresses, email addresses and the last four digits of credit card numbers, plus the expiration dates. Customers should be alert for fraud attempts.
Customers Impacted: Unknown
How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: Failure to keep sensitive data secure is even more costly when your industry or location means you’ll incur regulatory penalties on top of everything else.
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United Kingdom – University of Northampton (UON)
https://heimdalsecurity.com/blog/cyber-attack-university-of-northampton/
Exploit: Hacking
University of Northampton (UON): Institution of Higher Learning
Risk to Business: 2.055 = Severe
Communications and some learning tools were knocked offline at UON after a cyberattack shut down essential systems. No data is reported stolen, and authorities have been informed. Officials say that service is beating slowly but steadily restored.
Individual Impact: No sensitive personal or financial information was announced as compromised in this incident, but the investigation is ongoing.
Customers Impacted: LOREM IPSUM
How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: It’s no longer acceptable to just survive a cyberattack by shutting down systems Clients expert businesses to keep on trucking no matter what.
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The Netherlands – RDC
https://therecord.media/data-for-7-3-million-dutch-car-owners-sold-on-hacking-forum/
Exploit: Hacking
RDC: Maintenance & Garage Services
Risk to Business: 1.861 = Severe
The personal and vehicle details of millions of Dutch car owners were posted for sale on a well-known cybercrime forum, snatched from automotive services company RDC. The threat actor behind the forum ad claims to be in possession of an RDC database with 7.3 million entries. 2.3 million of those records also come complete with email addresses and other PII.
Risk to Business: 1.703 = Severe
Both business clients and private car owners were impacted with data including names, home addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, but also vehicle registration numbers, car makes & models, and license plates exposed.
Customers Impacted: 7.3 million
How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: Every time your company does business with another company, your information is at risk and their failure to keep your information safe can come back to haunt you when you least expect it.
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Australia – Channel Nine
https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/116053/breaking-news/channel-nine-cyber-attack.html
Exploit: Hacking
Channel Nine: Television Network
Risk to Business: 1.422= Extreme
In an especially audacious attack, hackers disrupted broadcast operations at Channel Nine, preventing the station from transmitting its popular Sunday morning news program, which runs from 7:00 am to 1:00 pm out of studios in Sidney as well as its 5 pm evening news broadcast. The 6 pm broadcast was facilitated by studios in Melbourne. The company acted quickly to restore operations.
Individual Impact: No sensitive personal or financial information was declared as compromised immediately but the investigation is ongoing and more details may emerge.
Customers Impacted: Unknown
How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: Hackers are bold and dangerous One security failure can have big consequences for operations, causing delays and dissatisfaction for clients.
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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.
Go Inside the Ink to Get the Inside Scoop on Cybercrime
Are you up to date on the latest news that can impact your business and your customers? Here’s a recap:
- Even Low-Level Malicious Insider Threats Cause High-Level Damage
- Get the Facts About the Global Year in Breach 2021 & What’s Next
- Lessons Learned from The Global Year in Breach: Multifactor Authentication Beats Cybercrime
- 10 Things You Need to Know About MVP Growthfest 2021
- The Week in Breach 03/17/21 – 03/23/21
Learn the Secret of How Cybercriminals Trick You Into Falling for Phishing Messages!
NEW WEBINAR! Lessons Learned from the Pandemic
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Don’t Forget to Download The Global Year in Breach 2021 & Our Cybersecurity Risk Protection Checklist
Change comes fast, as we all learned in 2020. Are you ready for what’s next? Read our annual exploration of the breach-related cybercrime landscape to learn more about the patterns and trends that you’ll see in the future. In “The Global Year in Breach 2021” you’ll find:
- 5 growth areas to keep on your radar
- How the dark web economy contributed to a cybercrime explosion
- The risks of the future
- and so much more!
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Sit Down with Experts to Explore Mind Games: Protecting Your Business From Social Engineering Attacks
Social engineering is the driver of today’s most devastating phishing disasters – 98% of cyberattacks in 2020 used social engineering as their main component. Join Jamie Woodruff, Europe’s top ethical hacker and ID Agent for a fascinating webinar where you’ll learn:
- What tricks cybercriminals favor the most
- How social engineering can catch even wary employees
- What you can do to secure businesses against this rising threat
Enjoy the webinar “Mind Games: Protecting Your Business From Social Engineering Attacks” now. SEE THIS WEBINAR>>
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Cybercrime Numbers Reach New Heights in a Chaotic Threat Atmosphere
The release of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) IC3 Internet Crime Report always brings clarity to determining what threats businesses really have to contend with. This year is no different. It also reinforces a conclusion that cybersecurity researchers around the world have been touting – 2020 was a banner year for cybercrime.
The first notable data point is a shocker. The FBI received 791,790 cybercrime complaints in 2020 that resulted in a loss of over $4.2 billion and that’s 300,000 more than 2019. A 69% increase in reported cybercrime is a massive jump that confirms the extraordinary cybercrime risks that every company has to contend with. It also lends credence to the recommendation that companies need to update and upgrade their defenses fast because threat is growing exponentially with no sign of slowing down in 2021.
COVID-19 related scams represented a huge new pool of threats. IC3 reported that it notched 28,500 complaints related to COVID-19 last year. The majority of those scams involved identity theft and fraud, especially around stimulus, grant and loan programs. While that threat will diminish as we move into the post-pandemic era, COVID-19 related cybercrime will still be a problem for businesses as cybercriminals perpetrate phishing scams themed around vaccination and assistance payments in the near future.
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Business email compromise (BEC) schemes continued to be the costliest cybercrime reported to IC3 consisting of 19,369 complaints with an adjusted loss of approximately $1.8 billion. Phishing slotted in at number two from 241,342 complaints, with adjusted losses of over $54 million. The number of ransomware incidents reported to the FBI also continues to climb, with 2,474 incidents reported in 2020. IC3 was careful to note that it doesn’t receive reports of all scams in a given year.
The report also draws attention to one prominent BEC scam. IC3 noted the rise of cryptocurrency-enabled BEC scams, adding new danger to an old problem. In this scenario, identity theft is used to commit fraud and access cash as usual, but the stolen funds are immediately converted to cryptocurrency, making them much harder to find. In more personal variations on this scheme that can sometimes target executives, initial victims were enticed into providing a form of ID to a bad actor that was then used to establish a bank account to receive stolen BEC funds and then transferred to a cryptocurrency account.
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A few other notable data points from the report:
- The top 5 victimized countries outside the US were the UK, Canada, India, Greece and Australia.
- The top 4 US states in numbers of cybercrime victims were California, Texas, New York and Illinois.
- Social media scams hit 35,439 victims for $155,323,073
- 2,794 corporate data breaches were reported
- California had the highest total crime victim losses at $621,452,320
- Cybercrime targeting people over 60 has become so common that IC3 will be releasing a new, separate report focusing on Elder Fraud in 2021
These numbers can be useful for showing clients and prospects the danger that cybercrime poses to every business. Along with the incredible data that we’ve collected in The Global Year in Breach 2021, this is the kind of data that starts conversations.
One of the most important conversations to start is the need for secure identity and access management. Over 40% of businesses need to improve in this area. With the world economy stagnant, clients may be wary of spending money on new security solutions. So they’re going to be more receptive to a solution that solves multiple problems at once, providing excellent value at an affordable price: Passly.
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- Single sign-on (SSO). It’s a clutch player when time is of the essence as you defend against a cyberattack by making it easy to ferret out the point of origin of intrusions and quarantine problems fast.
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Huge Cybercrime Numbers Provide Food for Thought
The recent release of the FBI’s annual IC3 Internet Crime Report draws attention to the surge in cybercrime that businesses have seen in the last year – more than 80% of businesses reported seeing an increase in cyberattacks in 2020. That means that it’s a smart move to put in a little time to review your cybersecurity suite now and add extra protection against some nasty threats if needed.
2020’s increase in cybercrime was hefty across the board, including an enormous increase in phishing of more than 600%. Phishing is responsible for Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)’s top reported scam of 2020: business email compromise. The FBI notched 19,369 business email compromise scams in 2020 with a painful adjusted loss of approximately $1.8 billion.
Ransomware defense should also be high on your priority list. This menace isn’t slowing down, and just one incident can devastate your business. Two in five small or medium businesses were hit with ransomware in 2020. IC3 reports that it received 2,474 complaints identified as ransomware with adjusted losses of over $29.1 million.
The FBI received 791,790 cybercrime complaints in 2020 that resulted in a loss of over $4.2 billion and that’s 300,000 more than 2019. That’s an astounding 69% increase in reported cybercrime – and most cybercrime goes unreported.
Make sure that your business doesn’t end up in next year’s report by taking the time to review your protection and bolster it where you can. If your budget is a limitation, look for multifunctional solutions that can check off many security boxes at once like Passly. It’s packed with value including multifactor authentication which stops 99% of password-related cybercrime.
Cybercrime is continuing its upward trend in 2021. Take the time to review your security coverage now and make smart updates that protect your business from the rising tide of cybercrime.
If Cybersecurity is Like a Game, Shouldn’t You Play to Win? Here’s How to Do It.
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*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Blog – ID Agent authored by Kevin Lancaster. Read the original post at: https://www.idagent.com/blog/the-week-in-breach-data-breach-news-03-24-21-03-30-21