Here’s another example of why you should take experts’ advice when they say not to use the same password on multiple sites: Hackers have been apparently been attempting to breach accounts of Toys ‘R’ Us rewards program members using data they got from other hacks. [More]
hack attack
Toys ‘R’ Us Says Rewards Accounts Being Attacked Using Data Stolen Elsewhere
By 2.6.17 — Updated: 2.7.17
Court To Review Target’s $10M Customer Data Breach Settlement
By 2.3.17
Nearly two years after Target agreed to set up a $10 million fund to reimburse customers affected by its massive 2013 holiday season data breach, a federal appeals court has ordered the judge in this lawsuit to review the settlement. [More]
Samsung “Smart” Camera Is Ridiculously Hackable
By 1.18.17
A security camera in your house, that you can access remotely, might seem like a good idea at first. You can log into it from anywhere, to see what’s going on and if it really was the cat who opened your kitchen cabinets every day last week. But the problem with a thing you can access remotely is that a sufficiently determined bad actor can, too. And sometimes it doesn’t even take much determination to do. [More]
Ransomware Spreading Onto Smart TVs, Is A Pain To Fix
By 1.6.17 — Updated: 1.7.17
Streaming TV has been a boon for consumers. Programming is everywhere, right at our fingertips, as soon as we get our screens online. But that connectivity comes with a big risk: wherever there’s an internet connection, there’s a possibility for bad guys to show up. And now they are showing up in the real world, holding TV sets hostage with ransomware and demanding cash to let you access your own stuff. [More]
LinkedIn’s Education Service Lynda.com Latest Data Breach Victim
By 12.19.16
Less than a week after Yahoo confirmed a second data breach affecting nearly one billion users, another online social network has been targeted by hackers: LinkedIn says that its online education service — Lynda.com — is the latest hack attack victim, albeit with a much lower number of affected victims. [More]
Yahoo Confirms Another Major Data Breach; More Than 1 Billion Users Affected
By 12.15.16
Remember how, just three months ago, Yahoo had to admit that data for more than 500 million of its users had been compromised in 2014? It seems ridiculous to refer to something that hit 500 million people as the “smaller” of anything, but it turns out that was only the second overwhelmingly huge data breach Yahoo suffered in recent years. This week, it’s admitting a previous, even larger intrusion that hit more than a billion — yes, with a B — user accounts. [More]
Pranksters Reportedly “Hack” McDonald’s Drive-Thru To Be Vulgar To Customers
By 12.5.16
There are any number of issues one might encounter when ordering at the drive-thru of their local fast food restaurant — the intercom is broken, you can’t hear the employee, or you receive the wrong order. Customers of one North Carolina McDonald’s recevied a different surprise when placing an order: The “employee” on the other end of the intercom was shouting rude and vulgar language back at them. [More]
Hackers Breached San Francisco Transit System, Held It Hostage All Weekend
By 11.28.16
San Francisco residents bustling around this weekend to visit friends and knock out some holiday shopping were treated to an unexpected surprise: all rides on MUNI rail were free. It wasn’t due to a gesture of goodwill from the transit operator, though; it was because hackers had managed to lock out the fare system and were holding it hostage. [More]
Latest Hack Of Adult Friend Finder Parent Company Leaves 412 Million Users Exposed
By 11.14.16
More than a year after online dating site AdultFriendFinder.com suffered a hack that exposed sensitive account information for nearly four million users, the website and its parent company have reportedly been hit with a much larger breach affecting some 412 million accounts. [More]
Yahoo Knew About Giant Hack As Early As 2014
By 11.10.16
Back in September, Yahoo was forced to admit that it had suffered a security breach — a big one. A “whoops, there goes 500 million users’ data” one. Since then, both the public and potential acquirer Verizon have been asking: what did Yahoo know, and when did they know it? And the answer now seems to be: not as much as they should have, but way earlier than they said. [More]
Webcam Maker To Recall Products Linked To Last Week’s Internet Crash
By 10.24.16 — Updated: 10.31.16
In the wake of a denial of service attack that bogged down sites like Twitter, Github, Reddit, Airbnb, and many others at various times on Friday, one company is recalling webcams that may have been used to aid hackers in taking these popular sites offline.
[More]
Trouble With Twitter, Reddit, Or The Rest Of The Internet Today? It’s Not Just You.
By 10.21.16 — Updated: 11.1.16
Update: Dyn reports that as of about 9:30 a.m., service has been restored and affected sites and services should start returning to normal. However, as of about 11:50 another round appears to have begun, with even more trouble hitting around 1:30 ET. Read on for more about the scope of the issue. [More]
iMessage Users Report Attempted Hacks
By 10.19.16
When it comes to trying to breach the data on iPhones, scammy text messages are apparently all the rage. In just the last year, we’ve had the text that could instantly crash an iPhone, and the flaw that allowed hackers to steal your saved passwords with a single text. Now, some Apple users are reporting another possible hack attempt, this time through their iMessage accounts. [More]
Millions Of Hijacked “Smart” Devices Already Aiding Criminals, Research Finds
By 10.13.16 — Updated: 11.1.16
Ever since “smart,” connected devices began to form the internet of things a few years back, some experts have warned that we could be facing a future where your toaster, washing machine, and TV become part of a sophisticated botnet used to attack others. Well, those experts say, the future is now. [More]
Vera Bradley Is The Latest Retailer To Have Payment Systems Hacked
By 10.12.16
If you bought a colorful, pattern-heavy bag, purse, or other accessory from Vera Bradley this past summer be warned: the retailer says it is the latest company to be hit by a payment system breach. [More]
Spotify Ads Were Actually Malware For A While
By 10.6.16
Some non-premium Spotify users were greeted with more than just free music while using the service recently: they all got free malware. [More]
Yahoo Confirms Massive Data Breach; At Least 500 Million Users Affected
By 9.22.16 — Updated: 10.13.16
As was rumored this morning, so it has come to pass. Yahoo has confirmed a massive data breach — and it’s far, far bigger than anyone guessed at first. [More]
Report: Yahoo To Confirm Major Data Breach Affecting At Least 200M Accounts
By 9.22.16
UPDATE: Yahoo has now confirmed that at least 500 million users were affected in the breach, which took place in 2014. [More]
