Tag: third-party breach
Third-Party Breach Places AmEx Cardholders at Risk – March 5th
American Express released a notification to its customers, informing them of a third-party data breach, placing 'some' customer information at risk. Despite the breach, American Express ensured that its systems remain secure, is taking measures to address the issue, and will constantly monitor the integrity of its accounts for fraudulent activity.
Third-Party Attacks on the Rise
Criminal gangs are exploiting a new “side door” into organizations via connected third-party applications including everything from calendars to creative tools. Thwarted by the recent success of anti-phishing cybersecurity and aided by artificial intelligence (AI), criminal gangs are now compromising email accounts through third-party attacks. “Third-party applications connected to the email environment are being exploited, and organizations are making the lives of bad actors easier as they continue to connect more applications with high-risk permissions. Application overload is a common and dangerous trend,” says cybersecurity firm Abnormal Security. Abnormal Security believes that, although vulnerabilities in third-party software accounted for 13% of all breaches in 2022, costing organizations an average of US$4.55 million per incident, the problem has since worsened considerably. It quotes a recent vendor email compromise (VEC) attack that almost netted the criminals US$36 million, although most VEC attacks target less than US$150,000.
FNF hack exposes 1.3m customer details
US real estate financial services fat cat, Fidelity National Financial (FNF), has revealed details of a cybersecurity breach that occurred in November, exposing the details of 1.3 million customers. An updated filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) claims the attack, which occurred on November 19, 2023, was detected early on and successfully contained. But despite FNF’s best efforts, over a million customers will wonder if the threat actors behind the breach also believe that their attack has been successfully “contained.” The nature of their target suggests otherwise. A Fortune 500 company, FNF is one of the largest companies of its kind in the US, with an annual revenue of over $10 billion, a market capitalization of $13.3 billion, and a staff of over 23,000 people.
Cyber-gangs to launch media offensive in 2024
Cybercrime, which has become a multi-trillion-dollar industry over recent decades, became increasingly sophisticated during 2023, with criminal groups now adopting many of the business practices used by legitimate enterprises. According to a new report from cybersecurity firm, Sophos, leading ransomware gangs now increasingly employ their own internal HR and PR departments. Far from shying away from the media, as criminals always have in the past, some ransomware gangs have been swift to seize the opportunities it affords them. Some regularly issue press releases and take great pains to forge relationships with individual journalists using the same PR methods as those employed by legitimate corporations. Threat actors also offer Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and answers for journalists visiting their leak sites, encouraging reporters to get in touch, give in-depth interviews, and recruit writers, reports Sophos.
Mr. Cooper breach exposes 14m victims’ data
US mortgage service provider Mr. Cooper has disclosed a breach to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) affecting over 14.5 million people. Breached data includes names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, dates of birth, and bank account numbers. The Mr Cooper breach is indicative of several trends likely to shape the cybersecurity industry in 2024. The new obligation to report material cyber breaches within four days that came into effect last week on December 15 is widely expected to reveal a huge iceberg of what might have previously been unreported and, therefore, uncounted cyber breaches. The obligation to detail the loss and those affected also puts a big onus on organizations in all sectors to implement systems capable of identifying and tracking any intrusions into their network.