What Happened? On August 27, 2018, personal information of 73 residents of Washington was acquired by unauthorized persons from computer systems maintained by attorney Matt Rovner in Seattle, Washington. The information was acquired when administrative access to the systems was provided to persons fraudulently pretending to be a computer support services firm. What Information Was…
Month: September 2018
Computer hack cost Pennsylvania’s Senate Democrats $700,000; others pay less-costly ransoms
Deb Erdley reports: Pay now, or pay later. Leaders of the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Caucus faced those options when hackers infected their computer system in March 2017, holding it hostage with ransomware. Officials at the Westmoreland County Housing Authority faced the same dilemma when hackers held their computers and phones hostage in July. The Housing…
Facebook Hacked, 50 Million Users Affected
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai and Jason Koebler report: Facebook disclosed that hackers stole data from 50 million people on Friday. In a blog post, Facebook’s vice president of product management Guy Rosen said that the company’s engineering team “discovered a security issue affecting almost 50 million accounts.” “It’s clear that attackers exploited a vulnerability in Facebook’s code…
Japan Gov’t Outraged by $60m Crypto Hack of Zaif, Regrets Lack of Suspension
CCN reports: Earlier this month, major Japanese crypto exchange Zaif was hacked, losing $60 million worth of crypto in user funds. The Financial Services Agency (FSA), the main financial watchdog of Japan, has stated that it regrets allowing Zaif to continue its operation after the exchange was given two warnings to drastically improve its system….
Teen Apple Hacker Avoids Jail in Australia After Serious Attacks
David Stringer reports: An Australian teenager who hacked Apple Inc. systems over several months and downloaded sensitive data avoided a jail term Thursday, as a court heard he was fascinated by the tech giant and found accessing its networks addictive. The now adult defendant, who was 16 at the time the hacking began, accessed Apple’s…
Russian hackers ‘Fancy Bear’ now targeting governments with rootkit malware
Zack Whittaker reports: Security researchers say that they have found evidence that for the first time Russia-backed hackers are now using a more sophisticated type of malware to target government entities. ESET presented its case Thursday that the hacker group, known as Fancy Bear (or APT28), is using rootkit malware to target its victims. That…