Home Depot to Pay Another $25 Million
In a new settlement with dozens of banks, the retailer has agreed to pay $25 million for damages they incurred as a result of the breach, one of the biggest in history. Home Depot has already spent $179 million in compensation for the data breach, which affected 50 million customers. Financial organizations have already been paid $134.5 and $19.5 million on affected consumers, including $13 million in cash in addition to credit monitoring services. Read more.
DOJ Keeps Quiet on FBI Spend for iOS Hack
According to CSO, “The U.S. Department of Justice yesterday argued that it should not have to reveal the maker of a tool used last year to crack an alleged terrorist's iPhone or disclose how much it paid for the hacking job, court documents showed.”Three news organizations — the Associated Press wire service, the USA Today newspaper, and Vice Media — filed requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for information on how they found a way to access the device without Apple's help. Read more.
At last count, 110 organizations have reported successful Phishing attacks targeting W-2 records, placing more than 120,000 taxpayers at risk for identity fraud. According to the IRS, these attacks are some of the most dangerous email scams the agency has seen in a long time. Read more.
Air Force Holds Sensitive Information Online
Researchers from MacKeeper reportedly discovered "gigabytes" of sensitive Air Force documents left unsecured online, visible to anyone who knew where to look for them without a password. They notified the Air Force and the drive has since been taken down. There is no information whether the drive had been discovered by any unauthorized party besides MacKeeper. Read more.
The database, about 52 gigabytes in size, contains just under 33.7 million unique email addresses and other contact information from employees of thousands of companies, representing a large portion of the US corporate population. The database contains many fields like names, job titles and functions, work email and phone numbers. Typically, the database is used for marketers. Read more.
Popular Teen Quiz App Wishbone Hack
“Hackers have stolen 2.2 million email addresses and 287,000 cellphone numbers from Wishbone users, many of whom are young women under the age of 18,” reports VICE Motherboard. Unknown hackers apparently found an unprotected database for the app Wishbone and stole its contents, which are now circulating on the internet's undergrounds. Read more.
Prominent Twitter Accounts Compromised Following Third-Party Breach
A number of accounts were hijacked to tweet Nazi propaganda after Twitter Counter, a popular tool for analyzing followers, was hacked. Official Twitter accounts belonging to Amnesty International, Forbes and other prominent organizations, not to mention many regular users, were accessed to post swastikas and other Nazi-related messages in a move thought to be related to Turkey’s diplomatic spat with the Netherlands and Germany, the Guardian reported. Read more.
