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York Council data breach

The recent York Council data breach led to the information for almost 6,000 people being exposed due to a coding vulnerability.

A computer expert happened upon the vulnerability in the ‘One Plant York’ app. He did the right thing and reported the breach to York Council, who then bizarrely reported him to the police. It’s understood that the expert had alerted the Council in efforts to make them aware, so the issue could be resolved.

The police matter aside, the result is that the data for almost 6,000 people has been left exposed. If one expert happened upon it, who’s to say someone else isn’t already aware of it, and hasn’t already been exploiting it?

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380,000 payment cards expposed in British Airways data breach

This is a huge breach. Some 380,000 payment card details have been exposed in the British Airways data breach that was revealed yesterday.

COMPENSATION ACTION LAUNCHED: READ HERE FOR MORE INFO

Customers are being notified if they’re affected, and our Data Leak Lawyers are on the case to advise anyone who has been affected. Any data breach involving credit and debit cards being compromised – which is the case in the British Airways data breach – can put victims at an immediate risk of fraud.

Since British Airways started outsourcing IT operations, a number of issues and incidents have reportedly occurred, although it’s not yet known whether there’s a link between the outsourcing and the data theft revealed yesterday.

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Is mobile phone data protection lagging behind?

There are suggestions that mobile phone data protection is lagging behind as a result of security immaturity and attitudes toward mobile safety.

The smartphone industry in particular has grown exponentially in recent years, and with more than half of the internet’s traffic thought to be on mobile devices, and with mobile apps springing up all the time, some experts are concerned at the lack of maturity mobile phone data protection has when compared to desktop protection.

Does security and attitudes need to change?

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Booking.com WhatsApp and text fraud a criminal show of force

The recent Booking.com WhatsApp and text fraud operation showed precisely what criminals can do with enough data at their disposal.

According to the media reports in the aftermath of the Booking.com WhatsApp and text issue, criminals were looking to reap hundreds of thousands of pounds in ill-gotten gains by duping people into thinking they were Booking.com by using personalised messages that were said to have looked genuine, and included personal data.

Some people reportedly fell for the scam and lost money as a result, and we understand that Booking.com has committed to compensating victims.

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Compensation claim launched against Lovense app over allegations of secretly collecting intimate usage data

We have blogged about this before, but here is an update about a case that has been launched. As a reminder, we are acting for a large number of people claiming for the We-Vibe data breach scandal when it was discovered that the sex-toy software was secretly collecting information about the use of the product that they were not entitled to. Not only that, but hackers were reportedly able to break into the associated app and essentially “control” the device.

Now, there is a new legal case for a different remote sex-toy that is allegedly collecting user data secretly as well. According to papers already filed in a legal case, Lovense, a division of Hong Kong-based Hytto Ltd, is collecting and recording the intimate data of the users of their products.
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Hundreds of popular websites leaking personal data claim experts

Data security studies have revealed that there are literally hundreds of popular websites and mobile applications leaking personal information. Previous studies suggested even the Royal Mail is one such business leaking data, which goes to show the extent of the problem.

Many of the websites and apps researchers say are guilty of leaking data have an international reach, meaning people from all over the world could be victims to these data leaks. Studies so far have been focused on personally identifiable information (PII), which is data that can be directly linked to the owner.

This is worrying.
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After compromising over 145 million people’s financial data records, Equifax responds by producing an app…

Equifax have faced heavy criticism for a series of failings around the data breach that exposed over 145 million people’s personal data records, with almost 700,000 Brits caught up in the scandal. It was bad enough that a company responsible for credit referencing was easily hacked, especially given that the hack was down to Equifax failing to patch a known security vulnerability.

Their handling of the breach has been heavily criticised by authorities, experts and regulators. There are allegations of delays and failures to report the breach; an arguably dangerous website set up for people to check whether they were affected (which fraudsters can copy to lure people to give away information); and now an app, which is arguably one of worst offenders in terms of breaches and leaks of information.
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Work-assigned mobile devices are increasing cyber security risks for organisations

Laptops, phones and tablets are more and more common inside the workplace and out, allowing employees to present information easily, or work outside of the workplace. Company directors are also aware that it’s very common for employees to use such devices for other things like watching videos, reading news, entertainment purposes and accessing social media.

Whether these devices are used for professional or personal use, one thing remains the same: “an enterprise’s security is only as strong as its weakest link”.

These devices can often be the weakest link…
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70% of smartphone users sharing more personal information through apps than they realise

Smart phones and apps; again…

Data researchers have found that a large majority of people are installing mobile applications on their phones without realising just how much data they’re sharing. Whilst the apps are required to seek permission before accessing certain information, it has transpired that some apps may be accessing more than users are aware of.
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