We focus on the latest news surrounding data breaches, leaks and hacks plus daily internet security articles.
It can be a huge problem if universities are hacked. Reports suggest that more needs to be done when it comes to educational cyber defence, as recent reports have confirmed that white hat hackers managed to easily break into systems.
According to media reports, white hat hackers managed to gain access to “high value” data from universities in hours. In case you’re not sure, “white hat hackers” are essentially hackers who break into systems for non-malicious proposes. They often inform the organisations they have hacked so they can improve their security. They’re often security specialists themselves.
We’ve seen the damage that university data breaches can cause. We continue to run an action for victims of the University of Greenwich Data Leak. In that case, a wealth of personal and sensitive data was exposed.
Victims of last year’s TV licensing data breach need to take care to avoid falling victim to phishing scams that are doing the rounds at the moment.
Victims of the TalkTalk data breach – one of the over 20 data breach actions we’re representing people in – were contacted after the breach. It appears that scammers had got hold of information that had been exposed in the breach. Victims of the TV licensing data breach should be wary of being contacted in the same way.
We know that phishing scams using the cover of TV licensing are doing the rounds. One victim lost £10,000.00 to scammers after they managed to convince him they were the real thing.
Without even knowing it, your emails may be being read by companies, and you may feel that this is a Gmail data breach.
The recent admission by Google that they’ve been allowing companies to scan emails is a worrying one. App developers are reportedly able to access data in Gmail mailboxes to use it for marketing purposes. Even employees were manually reading mailboxes in order to train AI software to then do it for them.
If this applies to you, whether this can be classed as a Gmail data breach or not is apparently open for debate.
An Amazon data breach incident took place in the lead up to the big Black Friday sales a few weeks ago.
The incident reportedly stemmed from a technical problem.
In the data protection breach, customer names and email addresses were inadvertently posted on the company’s website. They were removed upon discovery of the error, and customers affected by the data breach have been informed.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is said to be looking into the situation.
It’s understood there have been cases of Equifax data breach fraud committed, perhaps, as a direct result of the breach itself.
Tech company, Forte, produced some stats that indicate some alarming figures in the wake of the Equifax data breach. The data can be interpreted as a possible spike in some fraud incidents after the Equifax data breach took place, which wouldn’t surprise us given the scale and nature of this monumental attack.
It’s another sign that we ought to be far more concerned with regards to data breaches than many people are.
Ransomware attacks are still on the rise, and we all have every reason to be very worried about the increasing trends we’re seeing.
According to at least one piece of recent research, 2018 has already seen double the rate of ransomware attacks so far, but what’s equally as concerning is that the attacks are changing tact to go for bigger targets to demand higher ransoms, and the hackers are enjoying success.
It’s a sign of the times, and we all need to be very careful to make sure we protect ourselves from the growing risks of ransomware attacks.
Scams and fraud from data breaches and data leaks are common. In fact, scams and fraud are common anyway, with more than 10,000 cases reported last year, which was a five percent rise on the previous year.
It can be so easy for people to fall victim to scams and fraud that stem from data breaches, so the big question is how people can protect themselves, and what the organisations who hold our money – and data – can do to protect us as well. The burden of responsibility is a two-way street, and there is plenty that banks and organisations can do to better protect us.
read more
There is a wealth of information already out there in the public domain about most people. From loads of information accessible by anyone on social media platforms, to the data we share with organisations who may then be passing it around (whether we’re aware or not), there is so much out there.
So, when we have a serious data protection breach like the Equifax hack, the risk for victims is massive. It’s not hard for scammers and fraudsters to be able to find more information online about the Equifax breach victims, meaning the risks are very hard to manage.
read more
According to information from a report by privacy advocates Big Brother Watch, despite assurances that local government authorities are taking data protection seriously, more than a quarter of UK councils have had systems breached in the last five years.
The report also found that the majority of the successful breaches were caused by the simple and well-known phishing method, pointing to staff as the “weakest link” in terms of cybersecurity and data defence.
The report also references the fact that three-quarters of councils reportedly do not provide mandatory cyber-security training, with 16% not providing any at all.
read more
We have helped and advised people in the past who were scammed out of thousands of pounds because they were called by fraudsters who were able to convince the victims they were calling from TalkTalk themselves.
The criminals likely gained their information from the TalkTalk cyber-hack and had enough details to be able to trick victims in to thinking they were the real deal, with names, addresses, numbers and even account info.
The fraudsters are still at it; with plenty of targets to choose from thanks to the huge TalkTalk data protection breach.
read more
Fill out our quick call back form below and we'll contact you when you're ready to talk to us.