Casio, a well-known Japanese electronics company, experienced a significant cyberattack on October 5th. The company reported that an unidentified third party illegally accessed its network, causing system failures and service disruptions.

In a statement on October 8th, Casio expressed regret for the inconvenience this has caused to its customers and stakeholders. The company is actively investigating the incident with help from external specialists to assess the extent of the breach and whether any personal or sensitive information was affected. Casio has reported the cyberattack to the appropriate authorities and is taking steps to prevent further unauthorized access to its systems.

The cyberattack has not only caused service disruptions but has also delayed the release of new G-Shock watch models, including the GMC-B2100AD-2A and GMC-B2100D-1A, which were set to launch on October 18th in Japan. The company has not yet provided a new release date, stating it will be announced once the situation is resolved.

Additionally, the attack may impact the launch of the second Casio Watch 50th Anniversary limited series, which features the G-Shock GMC-B2100ZE-1A. Although the company has not confirmed this, the timing of this release could be affected.

Currently, no group has taken responsibility for the cyberattack, and the motive behind the breach is still unclear.

In other news, Casio is launching two new G-Shock Full Metal models in October: the GM-B2100SD-1A and GMC-B2100ZE-1A. The GM-B2100SD-1A features a hybrid analog-digital display, Bluetooth connectivity, solar charging, and improved readability with a darker grey background. The GMC-B2100ZE-1A, marking Casio’s 50th anniversary, has a black ion-plated bezel with gold accents, Bluetooth, and solar charging.

(via)

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Twilio, the company behind the two-factor authentication app Authy, has reported a security breach that exposed 33 million Authy-linked phone numbers due to an unsecured API endpoint.

Details of the Breach

Twilio disclosed the breach on July 1, 2024, in a blog post. The breach was caused by an “unauthenticated endpoint” that allowed unauthorized access to data associated with Authy accounts. While no passwords, two-factor authentication seeds, or other sensitive account details were compromised, phone numbers linked to Authy accounts were exposed.

Threat and Response

The hacking group ShinyHunters has been identified as responsible for the breach. They have leaked a file containing the phone numbers on a hacking forum, increasing the risk of phishing attacks and SIM swapping. In response, Twilio has secured the vulnerable endpoint and assured users that no other Twilio systems or sensitive data were accessed. Users are urged to update their Authy apps to the latest versions (Android v25.1.0 or later, iOS v26.1.0 or later) to enhance security.

Preventive Measures for Users

Authy users are advised to take the following steps:

• Update the Authy App: Ensure you are using the latest version, which includes important security updates.
• Enable SIM Lock: Secure your SIM card with a passcode to prevent unauthorized transfers.
• Beware of Phishing and Smishing: Be cautious of unsolicited messages or calls requesting login information, as these could be attempts to steal your credentials.
• Consider a different Authenticator App: You can also switch to a different 2FA app altogether. Aegis Authenticator is one of the various free-to-use options for Android users.

Official Statement from Twilio

Twilio has reiterated its commitment to security and transparency, stating, “We believe that the security of our products and our customer’s data is of paramount importance and when an incident occurs that might threaten that security, we tell you about it.”

Twilio’s Security Incident Response Team is actively monitoring the situation and will provide updates as necessary. Users experiencing issues with their Authy accounts are encouraged to contact Authy support for assistance.

(Source, via)

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Dell is notifying customers of a potential data breach that may have leaked some personal information. In an email sent to users yesterday, Dell advised customers to change their personal information “as soon as possible to protect personal privacy and property.”

49 million customers have been reportedly been affected by the data leak

Dell downplayed the potential impact of the breach, stating in a press release, “We are investigating a data breach. The database leaked in this incident may involve your purchase records. However, considering the type of information involved, there will not be a significant risk impact on our customers.”

However, hackers claim to have stolen information on roughly 49 million customers, including names, physical addresses, details about purchased Dell products, and order information like service tags, descriptions, purchase dates, and warranty details.

Dell emphasizes that financial or payment information, email addresses, or phone numbers were not compromised. They are currently working with law enforcement and forensic specialists to investigate the incident.

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In 2019, AT&T experienced a data leak impacting around 70 million current and former customers. The leak included personal details like names, addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, social security numbers, and passcodes.

Responding to the issue, AT&T has reset passcodes for 7.6 million current customers. This measure is one of several taken by the company to address the breach. Despite the data being encrypted, there were concerns about the security of these passcodes.

AT&T has launched an investigation with cybersecurity experts to better understand the recent data leak. The information appears to be from 2019 or earlier. AT&T has stated that there is no evidence of unauthorized access to its systems resulting from the incident.

To help those affected, AT&T is offering credit monitoring services. They’ve also set up a special webpage providing customers with information on how to keep their accounts safe.

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In a security setback Comcast, the parent company of Xfinity experienced a concerning incident where they fell victim to a vulnerability known as Citrix Bleed. This unfortunate event resulted in information belonging to 36 million Xfinity customers being exposed to hackers. The vulnerability, which was identified in Citrix networking devices commonly used by corporations had been exploited by cybercriminals since August.

It has been confirmed that the hackers took advantage of the Citrix Bleed flaw and managed to access systems between October 16 and October 19. However, it was not, until October 25 that the breach was discovered. The compromised customer data includes usernames hashed passwords, names, contact information, the four digits of social security numbers dates of birth well as secret questions and answers.

Despite Citrix releasing patches in October to address the vulnerability issue it is reported that Comcast took nine days to secure their network against this threat. In response to this incident, Xfinity is strongly urging customers to change their passwords especially if they have been using the same password across multiple platforms. Additionally, Xfinity advises customers to remain vigilant against phishing attempts and is implementing prompts for password changes upon customer login. They are also encouraging customers to utilize two-factor authentication for added security.

Xfinity has promptly reported this incident to law enforcement agencies. Is currently undergoing data analysis, for further investigation. Customers can find information in an official notice sent out by Xfinity which stresses the importance of taking proactive measures in order to mitigate potential risks.

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In a recent disclosure, Microsoft has admitted to a critical vulnerability within its mainstream Azure cloud service, which could potentially expose user accounts to unauthorized access. The vulnerability, named “nOAuth” by Descope, a renowned security software company, is present within Azure’s Active Directory, allowing hackers to exploit it and gain access to third-party websites using compromised Azure accounts. To exploit this vulnerability, hackers simply need to create an Azure account with administrator privileges and modify the account’s email address to that of an unsuspecting user. By utilizing the “Sign in with Microsoft” feature, hackers can easily log in to third-party websites, maliciously using the compromised Azure account.

This vulnerability will potentially affect a substantial portion of Azure users

The “nOAuth” vulnerability in Microsoft Azure’s Active Directory poses a range of risks to the system and its users. It enables hackers to gain unauthorized access to user accounts, potentially leading to data breaches, account takeovers, and manipulation of sensitive information. Compromised Azure accounts can be exploited to log in to third-party websites, putting those services and their users at risk as well. The consequences include financial loss, reputational damage, and potential legal ramifications. Prompt action from Microsoft, such as patching the vulnerability, strengthening security measures, and educating users, is essential to mitigate these risks and protect user accounts and data. User vigilance and reporting any suspicious activities are also crucial in combating this vulnerability. Imer Cohen, the Chief Security Officer at Descope, pointed out that this vulnerability stems from a flaw in Microsoft’s authentication design, leading to the emergence of the “nOAuth” vulnerability. The impact of this breach is significant, potentially affecting a substantial portion of Azure users.

Following the discovery of the breach, Microsoft acknowledged the vulnerability and issued a warning to all users, urging them to be cautious and avoid sharing their email information. By addressing this vulnerability, Microsoft is trying its best to uphold its commitment to user security and take proactive measures to safeguard its cloud service. Users are advised to remain vigilant, regularly update their account settings, and implement strong, unique passwords to mitigate the risk of unauthorized access.

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CYFIRMA, a cybersecurity firm, has recently uncovered suspicious Android apps on the Google Play Store under the account name “SecurITY Industry.” Upon conducting technical analysis, they found that these apps contained malware characteristics and were associated with the notorious Advanced Persistent Threat Group known as “DoNot,” which had previously targeted individuals in the Kashmir region. Surprisingly, the threat actor has now shifted its focus to individuals in Pakistan, although the motive behind these cyberattacks in the South Asian region remains unknown.

Newer strategies involve texting the victim via Telegram and Whatsapp

The analysis revealed that the attackers aimed to gather information through a stager payload in the initial stage of the attack. This information would then be utilized for a second-stage attack, employing more dangerous malware. CYFIRMA identified three Android apps hosted by the “SecurITY Industry” account on the Google Play Store: Device Basic Plus, nSure Chat, and iKHfaa VPN. Of these, nSure Chat and iKHfaa VPN exhibited malicious characteristics. The threat actor cleverly disguised these apps, using innocent Android libraries to extract contacts and the location of compromised victims. iKHfaa VPN even copied its code from a legitimate VPN service provider and added additional libraries to carry out malicious activities.

Further code analysis conducted by CYFIRMA revealed that the threat actor used AES/CBC/PKCS5PADDING encryption and Proguard obfuscation techniques to conceal the malicious nature of the apps. These findings led to the conclusion that the Google Play store account hosting these apps is connected to the APT (Advanced Persistent Threat) group DoNot. The encryption methods and the use of similar file names as previous Android malware samples linked these apps to DoNot.

The specific victims targeted by this Android malware in Pakistan remain largely unknown. However, based on the malware’s characteristics and access, it can be inferred that the threat actor’s intention is to gather information for future attacks using more advanced malware. Previous tactics employed by DoNot involved spear phishing attacks using malicious Word documents, but this recent shift indicates a strategy centered around luring victims through messaging platforms like Telegram or WhatsApp, ultimately leading them to install the malicious apps from the Google Play Store.

By leveraging the trust users place in the Play Store, these threat actors can greatly increase the chances of successful compromises. The rigorous examination of permissions during the app uploading process on the Play Store makes it uncommon for such malicious apps to bypass security checks.

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In response to a series of Layer 7 Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, Microsoft has taken swift action to enhance its security measures and protect its customers. The attacks, initiated by a threat actor known as Storm-1359, targeted Microsoft’s services, causing temporary disruptions in availability. However, there is no evidence to suggest that customer data has been compromised.

Microsoft is recommending Level 7 Azure Web Application Firewall Services for its users

Microsoft’s investigation revealed that Storm-1359 employs a combination of tactics, including accessing multiple virtual private servers (VPS), rented cloud infrastructure, open proxies, and DDoS tools. Unlike traditional DDoS attacks that focus on Layer 3 or 4, these recent attacks specifically targeted Layer 7, posing a greater challenge to mitigation efforts.

To address this new wave of attacks, Microsoft has hardened its Layer 7 protections by fine-tuning the Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF). This proactive measure aims to shield customers from the impact of similar DDoS attacks. While the existing tools and techniques have proven highly effective in mitigating disruptions, Microsoft remains committed to continuous improvement.

To assist customers in fortifying their own environments against similar attacks, Microsoft encourages them to review the technical details and recommended actions provided. By implementing the suggested measures, customers can enhance the resilience of their systems and minimize the potential impact of Layer 7 DDoS attacks.

Microsoft’s analysis of Storm-1359 revealed that the threat actor possesses a collection of botnets and tools capable of launching DDoS attacks from various cloud services and open proxy infrastructures. Storm-1359 appears primarily motivated by disruption and seeking publicity through its activities.

The attacks launched by Storm-1359 encompass several types of Layer 7 DDoS attacks. These include the HTTP(S) flood attack, which overwhelms system resources with an excessive load of SSL/TLS handshakes and HTTP(S) requests. Additionally, Storm-1359 employs cache bypass techniques to overload origin servers by sending queries against generated URLs, effectively bypassing the CDN layer. Another attack method utilized is Slowloris, where the attacker opens a connection to a web server, requests a resource, and then deliberately fails to acknowledge or accept the download. This forces the server to keep the connection and requested resource in memory, causing resource depletion.

To mitigate the impact of Layer 7 DDoS attacks, Microsoft recommends customers utilize layer 7 protection services such as Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF), which is available with Azure Front Door and Azure Application Gateway. Customers should also block IP addresses and ranges identified as malicious and consider implementing rate limiting or redirection of traffic from outside or within specific regions. By creating custom WAF rules to automatically block and rate limit HTTP or HTTPS attacks with known signatures, organizations can further fortify their defenses against Layer 7 DDoS attacks.

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When you delete an app from your phone, the app’s files and data are typically removed from your device, including any cached or temporary data that the app may have created. However, it’s important to note that there may still be some residual data left behind on your phone after you delete an app. For instance, some apps may create files or folders outside of their main app directory, which may not be removed when you delete the app. Additionally, certain apps may store data online in the cloud or on external servers, which would not be removed when you delete the app from your device. Furthermore, some apps may request permissions to access certain data on your device, such as your contacts, location, or photos. Even after you delete the app, the data that the app accessed may still be available to the app’s developers or third-party advertisers, depending on the app’s privacy policy and terms of use. As per the Google’s latest announcement, the company wants users to have better control of what stays on their devices after they remove an application from their device.

Google has recently announced a new policy that requires Android apps on the Play Store to allow users to easily delete an account and its associated data, both inside the app and on the web. This move is aimed at promoting transparency and trust among users while also enabling greater control over their data. It also provides more flexibility by allowing users to delete specific data, such as uploaded content, without having to completely erase their account.

The policy will be implemented in stages, with creators having until December 7th to address questions about data deletion in their app’s safety form, and store listings reflecting the changes in early 2024. Developers have until May 31st of next year to file for an extension. Google’s new policy follows a similar rule instituted by Apple for App Store software and is part of a broader trend of regulators demanding more control over services. This includes the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed rule changes requiring easy ways to cancel subscriptions and memberships. By enabling greater control of accounts, Google and other companies hope to prevent privacy violations and associated fallout, such as data breaches.

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Samsung’s recent introduction of ChatGPT, an AI chatbot, to its employees was intended to streamline processes and boost its chip business. However, after just three weeks, three leaks of confidential semiconductor information have reportedly occurred, causing concerns about data security and confidentiality breaches.

The leaks happened when Samsung employees entered sensitive information, such as semiconductor equipment measurement data and source code, into ChatGPT. As a result, this information became a part of the AI’s learning database, accessible not only to Samsung but to anyone using ChatGPT.

The first leak happened when an employee at the Semiconductor and Device Solutions department entered source code related to the semiconductor equipment measurement database into ChatGPT to find a quick solution to an issue. The second leak occurred when another employee entered a code related to yields and optimization, and the third leak occurred when an employee asked ChatGPT to create meeting minutes.

Samsung has taken measures to prevent further leaks, including instructing employees to be cautious about the data they share with ChatGPT and limiting the capacity of each entry to a maximum of 1,024 bytes. The company has also clarified that once information is fed to the AI chatbot, it is transmitted to external servers where it cannot be recovered or removed.

This incident highlights the importance of data security and the need for companies to carefully consider the potential risks and benefits of introducing AI chatbots into their workplaces. While AI chatbots can improve efficiency and streamline processes, they also require proper safeguards and training to ensure the confidentiality and security of sensitive information.

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In October 2021, Elon Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion, causing significant excitement and speculation in the tech and business world. Musk is known for his innovative ideas and success with companies such as SpaceX and Tesla, and many were curious to see how he would lead the popular social media platform. While some were optimistic about Musk’s ability to inject new life into Twitter, others were concerned about the potential consequences of such a high-profile acquisition. Well, amongst all the rough tides Musk has faced since he took ownership of the company, this is another one that poses a long-term risk to Twitter.

According to recent reports published in the New York Times, portions of Twitter’s source code have been leaked online. This incident has caused significant embarrassment for the company’s new owner. Court filings indicate that Twitter claimed copyright infringement and requested that the code be taken down from Github. The code was removed on the same day, but details regarding how long it had been available online were not disclosed. Twitter also requested the US District Court to order Github to reveal the identity of the user who posted the code and those who accessed and downloaded it.

Sources within the company revealed that Twitter executives strongly suspect a disgruntled employee, who left within the past year, is responsible for the leak. Since Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter last October for $44 billion, the company has experienced a significant reduction in staff. Despite fears that Musk would lay off 75% of the workforce, 80% of the company’s staff have been let go.

The leaked code has raised concerns among Twitter executives that hackers may use the information to access user data or discover new vulnerabilities. This incident could also negatively impact Twitter’s reputation, with advertisers and users alike possibly choosing to abandon the platform.

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On Tuesday, OpenAI had to take its popular ChatGPT bot offline for emergency maintenance after a user found a bug in the system that allowed them to see the titles of other users’ chat histories. The incident was widely reported on Reddit, with users posting screenshots of their ChatGPT sidebars displaying previous chat histories from other users. The bot was offline for nearly 10 hours while OpenAI investigated the issue.

OpenAI‘s initial findings from the incident, which were announced on Friday, revealed a deeper security issue. The chat history bug may have potentially revealed personal data from 1.2 percent of ChatGPT Plus subscribers. The affected data included the user’s first and last name, email address, payment address, and the last four digits of a credit card number, as well as the credit card expiration date. However, full credit card numbers were not exposed at any time.

The company identified the faulty library as the Redis client open-source library, Redis-py, which has since been patched. OpenAI has taken additional steps to prevent such incidents from happening again, including adding redundant checks to library calls, programmatically examining their logs to ensure that all messages are only available to the correct user, and improving logging to identify when such incidents are happening and confirm that they have stopped. OpenAI has also contacted affected users to alert them to the issue.

The incident is quite similar to previous incidents at Google and CNET, where they made public mistakes and used generative AI to write financial explainer posts, respectively. It remains to be seen whether OpenAI will suffer similar repercussions as its competitors.

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(Via)

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Twitter has been surrounded by a lot of negative press recently and it seems like the unfortunate run is still ongoing. A hacker has claimed to have private data on hundreds of millions of the platform’s users.

A new report has stated that the hacker has acquired sensitive information on 400 million users to be exact, which was illegally captured in 2021. The data was obtained by abusing an API vulnerability that has been fixed since its originally discovery. The hacker goes by the name ‘Ryushi’ has offered Elon Musk and Twitter to purchase this data him for a hefty price of 200,000 US Dollars. If they refuse, they would face an even heavier fine from the GDPR.

As per Ryushi on the Breached hacking forum, “Your best option to avoid paying $276 million USD in GDPR breach fines like facebook did (due to 533m users being scraped) is to buy this data exclusively… after that I will delete this thread and will not sell this data again.” To prove this, he even shared a sample data of more than 1,000 users that include a number of celebrities, which was leaked. This information contains sensitive data like email addresses, usernames, follower counts, creation dates, and some users’ phone numbers. 

The hacker further added that if Twitter skips this deal, he is also open to selling this data to multiple buyers for a sum of 60,000 US Dollars for interested parties. Unfortunately, it is still unclear as to what decision Twitter will make regarding this matter or even if the leaked private data is completely accurate. So stay tuned as we will offer updates if there are any notable developments on this matter.

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Twitter has been seeing some rocky roads in recent times. However, it seems that its troubles haven’t ended yet, with a massive data breach causing the private user data for millions of users being leaked.

The popular microblogging website had faced a data dump of sensitive identity information for over 5 million Twitter users. This sensitive information was later reportedly sold on the dark web. Now, another new report has revealed that the latest data dump is being offered for free, but this data breach is potentially more damaging than the last. The news arrives from a BleepingComputer report. This data leak contains “tens of millions of Twitter records.”

As per the report, the leak shares the user’s phone numbers, verified status, account names, Twitter IDs, biographies, and even their screen names. The original findings were first published by security researcher Chad Loder on Twitter. Although he was banned soon after on the platform for allegedly revealing this information. However, he has since migrated to Mastodon and shared his report there. 

On his initial tweet, Loder stated that “I have just received evidence of a massive Twitter data breach affecting millions of Twitter accounts in EU and US. I have contacted a sample of the affected accounts and they confirmed that the breached data is accurate. This breach occurred no earlier than 2021.” BleepingComputer analyzed a sample of the break for more than 1.3 million phone numbers of Twitter users from France, which revealed that this breach is accurate. So it remains to be seen how the company responds to this data breach.

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We had already covered various rumors regarding TikTok supposedly stealing your personal data. Now, a new report has revealed that the platform also harvests your personal data through the in app keyboard as well.

The news arrives from InAppBrowser.com  (Via PhoneArena) that stated that the in app keyboard on popular social media platforms are capable of stealing data based on what is being typed. The report adds that major social media apps like TikTok, Facebook and Instagram have the potential to use JavaScript to grab your credit card data, address, passwords, and more without your permission on iOS.

The report adds that these social media apps (including Facebook Messenger) can track your keystrokes if you use their in app keyboards. Notably, out of all of these social media applications, the one company that does not offer users the option to use your default QWERTY keyboard is TikTok. In other words, you are basically stuck with the personal data stealing in app keyboard.

This has also the reason why the brand came under first by another US presidential administration that was concerned about national security.In its defense, TikTok took to Twitter to share a tweet that stated that “The report’s conclusions about TikTok are incorrect and misleading. Contrary to its claims, we do not collect keystroke or text inputs through this code, which is solely used for debugging, troubleshooting and performance monitoring.”

Although, separate reports have also claimed that its in app browser is also quite dangerous since the company can basically track every keystroke on third party websites through this browser. FCC commissioner Brendan Carr said that this app is a “sophisticated surveillance tool that harvests extensive amounts of personal and sensitive data.”

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A new report has revealed that at least one former employee of Twitter has been accused of helping a Saudi Arabia spy. Apparently, this person is also facing possible prison time as well in the US.

According to a Bloomberg report, an ex Twitter worker has allegedly been helping Saudi Arabi spy on critics. Furthermore, a jury in San Francisco has convicted US resident Ahmad Abouammo of serving as an agent for Saudi Arabia. The jury also accused the person of falsifying records, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. As per the prosecutors, Abouammo took bribes from a key aide to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Bader Al Asaker back in 2015.

These bribes were taken in exchange for sensitive account info that could be used to track and silence dissidents. In other words, he leaked information to help bury protestors. In his defense, the former media partnership manager said that he was only doing his job. Although, the prosecution uncovered evidence of Abouammo received Hublot watches from the aide worth a whopping 300,000 US Dollars and 20,000 US Dollars.

As of right now, Abouammo is facing a sentence of around 10 to 20 years in prison. Meanwhile, he and his legal team have declined to comment on the matter. Notably, this case highlights concerns regarding the potential for staff that are working at social media giant platforms. These workers potentially have the power to abuse account information, despite companies like Twitter claiming that employees have limited data access.

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Apple has allegedly provided a hacker group with user data. The company has apparently shared the data after the group had managed to forge legal requests documents for the information.

According to a Bloomberg report, three sources close to the matter revealed details regarding this incident, which was a part of a 2021 social engineering scam. Allegedly, the hackers had impersonated as law enforcement officials and were able to persuade the Cupertino based giant’s staff into sharing information regarding their customers’ addresses, phone numbers, and IP addresses as well. They managed to acquire this information after showing a forged “emergency data requests” document.

For those unaware, the iPhone maker usually provides the officials with such information only when a search warrant or subpoena from a judge is provided. However, this does not apply with emergency requests because they are known to be used only in cases of imminent danger. Unfortunately, Apple has yet to confirm if it actually shared the data with the hacker groups and directed Bloomberg to its law enforcement guidelines when asked to comment on the incident.

Similarly, it appears that Facebook’s parent company, Meta, also faced a similar situation as well. The tech giant also allegedly provided the same hacker group with user data and said after they said that they are working with law enforcement on the suspected fraudulent requests. The information acquired from the two companies could be used with malicious intent, like targeted harassment campaigns or even financial fraud schemes.

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Samsung Electronics has apparently suffered a major security breach. The hackers behind this breach have claimed that they have leaked data that is worth 190GB, which includes source code and biometric unlocking algorithms.

According to Bleeping Computer report (Via Apple Insider), the South Korean tech giant was hit with the security breach earlier this month. The group behind this hacking incident was Lapsus$, which claimed that it seized the large amount of data from Samsung Electronics. If this news is true, it means that the brand has a notable issue with security. Furthermore, the data leak was first teased by the group on Friday, with a picture of C/C++ directives in Samsung software.

The group also added in the description that the leak contains “confidential Samsung source code” as well. Reportedly, this code includes the source for every Trusted Applet in Samsung’s TrustZone environment, which is responsible for every sensitive tasks such as hardware cryptography and access control. Additionally, the leak also includes other sensitive data related to biometric unlock operation algorithms, the bootloader source for recent devices, activation server source code, and the full source code used to authenticate and authorize Samsung accounts.

As of right now, it is also expected that some confidential source code related to Qualcomm was also leaked. The hacker group has shared the leaked data through torrents, however, it is currently unknown as to exactly how much data the group has managed to acquire. It is also unclear if the group sought to hold this sensitive information ransom from the company. Samsung officials have said that they are assessing the overall situation regarding the breach, so we’ll have to wait and see what move the brand takes in the arriving weeks.

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The servers of Acer have just been hit with a major breach recently. This breach has lead to loss of important internal business information related to several millions of users in India.

According to a NotebookCheck report, the Taiwanese PC maker suffered from a major breach that has affected its after sales services systems. This marks the second major cyberattack that the company has faced this year. As of right now, Hacker group Desorden have claimed responsibility for the attack. The hacker group claimed that they have stolen 60GB worth of data, which includes customer information, corporate data, sensitive accounts, financial data, and audit data.

Furthermore, the breach also includes login details of Acer retailers and distributors in India as well. The hacker group has also stated that it will also offer the company the rights to verify the authenticity of the breach and the stolen data. Reportedly, the publicly available data of 10,000 individuals has been already available. This breach first took place on 5th October 2021, with the hackers claiming to also have acquired sensitive data of millions of Acer customers that it will release for a fee.

According to an official spokesperson from the company, We have recently detected an isolated attack on our local after-sales service system in India. Upon detection, we immediately initiated our security protocols and conducted a full scan of our systems. We are notifying all potentially affected customers in India. The incident has been reported to local law enforcement and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, and has no material impact to our operations and business continuity.”

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EA has apparently been hit with a data breach. The hackers responsible for the attack stole the company’s source code of FIFA 21’s game engine along with other game development tools as well.

According to a Motherboard report, these hackers are also selling the source code for the company’s Frostbite game engine. This engine is used not only for FIFA 21 but has also been used in the studio’s popular Battlefield series a well. The group responsible is reportedly advertising that this data is for sale on hacking forums, and will only consider offers from big name members of the hacking community.

As the name suggests, Source codes are quite crucial for game development, so it is a big deal when a company like EA suffers from such a data breach. Recently, such attacks had also affected CD Projekt Red, who lost the source code for its Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3 game engines. Source codes being leaked also signifies trouble for the games themselves as it enables a clear view of the inner workings of the game, letting people create cheats and hacks that the developers didn’t intend for.

While the data breach doesn’t necessarily damage a company to a great extent, it does offers leaks at future or other projects that are currently in development. Furthermore, the hackers also claimed that they also have Microsoft Xbox and Sony’s SDKs and API keys available for sale as well, with a screenshot showcasing a total of 780GB worth of stolen goods. A spokesperson from the company confirmed this news and stated that the hackers only got away with a “limited amount of game source code and related tools.”

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It has recently been found that the personal data and phone numbers of hundreds of millions of Facebook users has been leaked online. All of this information was posted on a low level hacking forum that was found recently.

According to a BusinessInsider report, the leaked data includes personal information and the phone numbers of 533 million users of the popular social media platform. The data is from about 106 countries, including information on 32 million users from the US, 11 million users from the UK, 6 million users from India, and more. In the leak, personal data includes the users phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, location, birth dates, bios, and even email addresses in certain cases.

As per a statement from Facebook spokesperson, the data found online is actually scrapped due to a vulnerability that the company had patched back in 2019. Although, despite the information being dated, the information could still provide valuable information to cybercriminals that can use this information to impersonate people and scam others to handover login credentials as well.

Alon Gal, CTO of cybercrime intelligence firm Hudson Rock stated that “A database of that size containing the private information such as phone numbers of a lot of Facebook’s users would certainly lead to bad actors taking advantage of the data to perform social engineering attacks [or] hacking attempts.” Gal further added that there is not much the company can do at this point as the information is already out in the open, but has advised users to be wary of phishing schemes or fraud.

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Foxconn recently suffered from a Ransomware attack that has reportedly damaged its servers and backups. The company is reeling from the attack, which also had sensitive data being stolen.

According to a CRN report, Foxconn suffered a ransomware attack on 29th Novermber 2020 in its North American facility, which is located in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The attack was from ransomware operator DoppelPaymer, who is now demanding 34.7 million US Dollars in Bitcoin. The ransomware operator even leaked certain generic Foxconn business documents on their data leak website earlier this week.

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As per the ransom note, “Your files, backups and shadow copies are unavailable until you pay for a decryption tool,” DoppelPaymer wrote in a ransom note that appears on Foxconn’s servers. “If no contact [is] made in 3 business days after the infection, [the] first portion of data will be shared to [the] public … and all the rest will remain unreachable to you.”

DoppelPaymer apparently encryted about 1,200 servers, stole 100GB of unencrypted files, deleted 20 to 30TB of backups and more in their November 29 attack. The ransom for these files is 1,804 Bitcoins. Foxconn is a known supplier of Apple, and it remains to be seen what action the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer takes in response to this. The ransom note, which is actually a link, also stated that “This page and your decryption key will expire in 21 days after your systems were infected. Sharing this link or email will lead to the irreversible removal of the decryption key.”

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Facebook is facing another lawsuit, with it being accused of spying on Instagram users through their cameras. Reportedly, the social media giant gains unauthorized of the smartphone’s selfie camera to spy on the users.

According to a Bloomberg report, the lawsuit has been filled after numerous media reports surfaced that the social media application had been accessing iPhone cameras even when the user wasn’t actively using them. Since then, Facebook has denied the reports and blamed the entire issue on a rogue bug, which it is apparently fixing, that was using the iPhone’s selfie cameras.

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An Instagram user from New Jersey, USA, filed a complaint earlier this week. The one suing stated that the use of the camera was intentional and was done for the purpose of collecting lucrative and valuable data on its users that it would not otherwise have access to.” They further stated that by “obtaining extremely private and intimate personal data on their users, including in the privacy of their own homes, they are able to collect valuable insights and market research.”

Facebook has declined to comment on this matter. Notably, this lawsuit arrives just a month after another legal action the company was facing for another illegal acquisition of user data. In recent years, online privacy and data security have become a hot debate, with many criticizing big names like Google and Facebook for having an undisclosed method of harvesting user data. So stay tuned for more updates regarding this matter.

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A recent investigation has reportedly uncovered startling evidence that points to Avast, the antivirus software, collecting users’ browsing history data and selling it to third parties like Microsoft and Google.

The investigation was a joint effort from the Motherboard and PCMag that relied on leaked user data and other company documents to uncover the sale of private user data without user consent. Avast antivirus solutions are installed in nearly 435 million Windows, Mac and even mobile platforms globally. Reportedly, the company harvested users’ browsing history data via plugins and have been harvesting it for third party clients.

During the investigation, a document belonging to Jumpshot, an Avast subsidiary, was recovered. This detailed information regarding antivirus software which was installed on PC’s being capable of collecting data, which Jumpsht repackaged into multiple products that people bought for their computers. Reportedly, the names of clients potentially included industry giants like Google, Yelp, Microsoft, McKinsey, Pepsi, Sephora, Home Depot, Conde Nast, Intuit, and many others.

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Since the report initially went public, Avast has stopped providing any browsing related data that is collected by extensions to Jumpshot. Furthermore, Jumpshot contracts have also been revealed which include dealings with a marketing firm that paid over $2 million for access to users’ browsing data in 2019.

Avast is being accused of tracking the exact date and time of when a user enters a website, alongside search history, and even keeping track of digital content like videos being viewed. This has raised a number of flags regarding the users being privy of this information. Currently, Avast is also being investigated for harvesting user data via its Antivirus software itself, apart from browser plugins.

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(Via)

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Facebook has defended WhatsApp, its popular social messaging platform, and has shifted the blame towards Apple for an iPhone getting hacked. The reason why a hacked iPhone is making rounds in the news is due to its owner being Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon.

Nick Clegg, the Vice President of Global Affairs and Communications of Facebook, explained that WhatsApp is not the reason for the breach in the iPhone and that the fault lays with Apple. Reports regarding the attack have revealed that Jeff Bezos’ iPhone X received a 4.4MB video that contained malware. This has led to a few gigabytes of data and personal information being stolen from one of the world’s richest person’s smartphones.

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A few had pointed to WhatsApp being the cause of the fault as it was claimed that the video was shared on the messaging application. However, Facebook, which also owns WhatsApp and Instagram, has defended its platform citing that its software is unhackable as the service uses end to end encrypting. Clegg stated that the encryption has yet to be hacked and is “very, very confident” in its security.

Furthermore, the senior executive state that the malware was intended for Apple’s iOS and that it affected the iPhone directly, managing to access private data stored behind the system’s own encryption. Notably, the Facebook official has claimed that end to end encryption is unhackable while WhatsApp has sued an NSO Group from Israel for building malware that was used to hack into high profiler users, journalists, and Government officials while other reports suggest that is still possible to hack an end to end security system as demonstrated by a Chinese hacker group.

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(Source,Via)

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Earlier today (20th January 2020), Mitsubishi Electric Corp announced that it had been the target of a series of cyberattacks that has led to information regarding Government agencies and other business partners being compromised.

Mitsubishi Electric is an integral asset in Japan’s defense and infrastructure industries. Hence, the cyberattack implies a possible leak of information, such as email exchanges with the Defense Ministry and the Nuclear Regulation Authority. Furthermore, even documents related to projects with private organizations, railway operators, telecommunications and automakers are also at risk.

However, the company has also assured that no highly important data regarding infrastructure operations have been breached. Previously, Mitsubishi had conducted an internal investigation in June 2019 after an irregular activity was noticed on devices located in Japan. The investigation found unauthorized access to the management section at its head office and other departments.

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According to reports, a Chinese hacker group is suspected of attacking Mitsubishi Electrics by gaining unauthorized access to personal computers and services. It is being said that the cyberattack had targetted information related to job applicants and employees of the month alongside sales and technologies as well. Although, it is still a call for caution as even cybersecurity experts in the field are susceptible to cyberterrorism.

Since the attack, Yoshihide Suga (Chief Cabinet Secretary) has mentioned that “no leak of sensitive information regarding defense equipment and electricity” has taken place and also sent outa public apology for the sudden unrest that was caused. Notably, Mitsubishi Electic is a major manufacturer in the field of defense and is accredited with the 3rd largest contract for major defense equipment at the Defense Ministry, according to a discal report of 2018.

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(Via)

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OnePlus, the smartphone manufacturer, had publicly announced the second data breach in two years back in November 2019. Since then, the company has promised to launch a new bug bounty program by the end of the year 2019. The move was made to bump up security measures and prevent future breaches. Now, the company has finally announced that its bug bounty program is live.

For users that find any bug or vulnerabilities in the systems, they can submit it on OnePlus’s official website that features a new bug report section. Users must login first and apparently, the company will be creating and updating a leaderboard of top contributors. The company will even feature the top three contributors on the bug bounty’s main page as well.

In the about section of the bug bounty program, OnePlus promises to reward users that submit reports according to certain tiers.

• • Special cases: up to $7,000 (roughly 49,000 CNY)
  • Critical: $750–$1,500 (5,258-10,517 CNY)
  • High: $250–$750 (1,752-5,258 CNY)
  • Medium: $100–$250 (701-1752 CNY)
  • Low: $50–$100 (350-701 CNY)

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The exact definition of the tiers are still uncertain, however, OnePlus states that the reward you may receive is, “determined based on vulnerabilities severity and actual business impact.” The company had previously announced that it would partner up with a world renowned security platform in December 2019. That is now confirmed to be the startup HackerOne.

The collaboration with HackerOne is starting as a pilot program which would see numerous select security researchers being invited to test against OnePlus’ systems. The company also mentioned that a public version of the same will be launched in 2020.

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(Source,Via)

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OnePlus’ customer data has been breached, yet again. The smartphone maker made an announcement a few hours back stating that some of its customer’s information like “name, contact number, email, and shipping address within certain orders” may have been exposed by the most recent data breach. However, information like payment information, passwords and accounts are safe.

OnePlus hasn’t given out an exact number of affected users, however, the company said that it has already sent out emails to the users whose data has been breached. If you were one of the affected customers, you should have received a mail similar to this sometime in the past couple of days. If you haven’t got an email from the company, then your data wasn’t breached.

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The official OnePlus website seems to be the point of the breach but the company assured that they have thoroughly inspected the website to ensure there are no similar security flaws. The company also adds that affected users ‘may receive spam and phishing emails as a result of this incident’.

This isn’t the first time OnePlus had a security breach. Last year, in January, credit card information of nearly 40,000 OnePlus customers was breached through the company’s OnePlus.net website. Unfortunately, the company has not revealed the scale of this particular breach.

Security breaches are never good for a company. However, the company assures that it will partner “with a world-renowned security platform next month, and will launch an official bug bounty program by the end of December”. This is definitely the right way moving forward, however, OnePlus should have probably done this immediately after the first breach to avoid a second incident.

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(Source)

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