It’s a day ending in the letter “Y,” so we’re not surprised that yet another breach of customer information is making the news: In the latest, a cyber security firm says information for at least 14 million Verizon residential and small business wireline customers was found on an unsecured web server, allowing anyone on the Internet to access it. Verizon says that figure was closer to six million customer records. [More]
security breaches
Crowdfunding Site Patreon Hacked, 15GB Of Donor Info Dumped Online
By 10.2.15
Patreon, a website that allows donors to give regularly to sites, artists, projects and other creators, yesterday evening that it’d been hit by a hack attack that accessed some registered names, email addresses and mailing addresses. And according to reports, 15GB of data was then dumped online, exposing information about donors and the projects they’ve funded. [More]
Sally Beauty: Investigation Confirms Customer Payment Info May Have Been Put At Risk, But Not Debit PINs
By 5.29.15
Three weeks after Sally Beauty first said it was looking into whether it’d been the victim of a hack attack, the company says it’s confirmed that criminals used malware on some of its point-of-sale systems, possibly exposing payment information for customers who used cards at some of its U.S. stores. [More]
Popular Messaging App Of The Moment “Yo” Has Some Serious Security Issues
By 6.20.14
Have you Yo’ed yet today? No? Me either, my younger cousins haven’t Facebooked about it so I’m out of the loop. Anyway, it’s the messaging app that’s been all the rage for at least 48 hours or so, all because its sole function is to send your friends the word, “Yo.” Yes, that’s it. In any case, just as quickly as its star has shot to the heavens, people are already claiming to have hacked it right back down again. [More]
P.F. Chang’s Confirms Some Customer Credit Card Info Was Compromised In A Security Breach
By 6.13.14
Seems P.F. Chang’s is ready to pipe up, after banks reported earlier this week that the restaurant chain had possibly been hit by a breach that compromised customers’ credit card information. The company confirmed last night that while it’s not sure how many customers were affected, its data has been compromised. [More]
Report: Hackers Would Rather Steal Your Twitter Account Than Your Credit Card
By 3.27.14
You keep an eye on your credit report and fastidiously pore over each and every statement to guard against identity theft and a drained bank account, and that’s good. But a new report says stolen Twitter accounts are more valuable to hackers on the black market than a stolen credit card number, so keep that password close as well. [More]
California DMV Says Drivers’ Credit Card Data Might Have Been Breached
By 3.24.14
Here we go again: Now that we’ve all gotten used to security breaches, why not throw another one on top of Target and the rest? The California Department of Motor Vehicles says there’s a possible data security breach in its credit card processing services, though there’s no evidence of a hack yet. [More]
Sally Beauty: Credit Card Info Of 25K Customers Illegally Accessed, Might’ve Been Stolen
By 3.17.14
After a bunch of stolen credit card numbers were reportedly found for sale earlier this month on the underground market where one buys such things, all linked by the common denominator of Sally Beauty customers, the company said today that credit-card data of fewer than 25,000 customers records was illegally accessed and it’s possible that info was stolen. [More]
Tinder Fails For Months To Inform Public Of Security Flaw That Reveals Users’ Exact Location
By 2.19.14
UPDATE Feb. 20: Tinder sent Consumerist the following statement the day after this story originally ran. It’s from CEO and founder Sean Rad. [More]
Snapchat Figures It’s Best To Prove Users Are Actually Human With New Security Update
By 1.22.14
Now that Snapchat has had its toes firmly dipped in the pool of potential security threats, it seems the company has realized it might be best to stem the tide of spambots posing as real users on the photo-sharing service. [More]
Non-Target Customers Wondering How Target Got Contact Info To Send Email About Hack
By 1.17.14
Did you get an email from Target apologizing for the recent hack and offering free credit monitoring yesterday that felt kind of, well, iffy? Many of our readers and others elsewhere on the Internet have pointed to the mass email as sketchy, due in part to pall cast by the retailer’s security breach over the holidays. And then there’s the fact that many people never shop at Target. Not in stores, and not online. Not ever. So how did they get those email addresses? [More]
Security Vulnerability Exposes HTC Smartphone Users' Info
By 10.3.11
HTC makes some powerful Android smartphones, but owners will have to replace their smug senses of superiority with worries about their personal data. A security vulnerability in recent updates to several HTC phones, including the Evo 3D and Thunderbolt, includes logging tools that potentially allow outsiders to get a hold of GPS, encoded text message data, email addresses and other info for those who use the phones. [More]
Twitter Closes Up Loophole That Sent Unwitting Users To Potentially Dangerous Sites
By 9.22.10
Twitter patched up a security gap that sent users to other sites when they moved their mouse cursors over links. Using a JavaScript function called onMouseOver, spammy marketers drew in unwitting customers to their sites without them having to click. [More]
Kids Fly (Permission) Free On Southwest
By 8.16.10
In a story that’s just begging to be optioned as a Home Alone movie, a trio of Florida kids, the oldest age 15, managed to pay cash for tickets and fly to Tennessee without getting permission from their parents. The kids were able to make their own way without being any members of Southwest’s staff interceding. [More]
Hackers Bite Apple, AT&T To Breach 114K iPad Owners
By 6.10.10
Some early iPad adopters got a special bonus prize for buying a device that’s sure to be replaced with a vastly superior model a year from now — a data breach in which hackers unearthed account info from 114,000 users, including newscaster Diane Sawyer, New York mayor Michael Bloomerg and movie kingpin Harvey Weinstein. [More]
Security Breach At JFK Airport Leads To Delays, Evacuations
By 1.16.10
Thousands of passengers were evacuated from the American Airlines terminal at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport after an unidentified person opened a door restricted to airline personnel and TSA officers. Like the Newark incident of a few weeks ago, the offender was caught on camera but has not yet been found. It remains unknown whether he was a criminal or a moron. [Reuters] [NYDN] (Thanks, GitEmSteveDave!) [More]
U.S. Airways Flight 401 Had Passenger Infected WIth Tuberculosis
By 1.15.10
A tuberculosis-infected passenger flew on U.S. Airways 401 Saturday from Philadelphia to San Francisco, CNN reports. This despite the fact that the contagious and unidentified passenger was listed on a federal “do not board” list. [More]
Sprint Gives Stranger Full Access To Customer's Account, Shrugs
By 11.20.09
When Campbell changed his phone number with Sprint earlier this year, the company immediately assigned his old number to a new customer. They also gave that customer full access to Campbell’s account.
