Hacking, Security & Privacy - Page 6

All the latest Hacking, Security & Privacy news with plenty of coverage on new data breaches and leaks, new hacks, ways to protect yourself online & plenty more - Page 6.

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Epic Games reportedly attacked by ransomware group that stole nearly 200GB of data

Jak Connor | Feb 28, 2024 9:17 AM CST

A hacking group has claimed they have infiltrated Epic Games servers and stolen nearly 200GB of data from the company.

Epic Games reportedly attacked by ransomware group that stole nearly 200GB of data

The Fortnite developer has reportedly been hacked by ransomware group Mogilevich, which WCCFTech and Cyber Daily report is a relative newcomer to the hacking scene. Regardless of its purported reputation, or lack of it, Mogilevich has claimed they have infiltrated Epic Games servers and stolen 189GB of data, which includes emails, passwords, full names of accounts, payment information, source code, and much more. Notably, the stolen data is reportedly up for sale, but there is currently no price attached, with a deadline set for March 4.

It should be noted the group has not provided any proof of their claims, which reasonably leads to the assumption of the possibility no data was actually stolen, especially considering that Epic Games hasn't confirmed nor denied the hack. While it's currently up in the air whether the hack took place or not, I would be recommended to change your Epic Games account as a precautionary measure.

Continue reading: Epic Games reportedly attacked by ransomware group that stole nearly 200GB of data (full post)

Cyber attacks are on the rise, and global costs will reach up to $18 trillion by 2030

Kosta Andreadis | Feb 23, 2024 2:28 AM CST

Technology has advanced so rapidly that most devices in a 2024 household are always online smart devices perpetually connected to the cloud. Beyond this, no workforce, industry, or government agency exists without a complex and interconnected web of users, systems, and online technologies. Is it any wonder that cyber-attacks are on the rise and have cost the world $8 trillion USD in 2023?

Cyber attacks are on the rise, and global costs will reach up to $18 trillion by 2030

According to ExpressVPN, the cost of cyber-attacks has increased steadily in recent years. With the rise of generative AI and more sophisticated technologies, the $8 trillion figure will hit $9.5 trillion in 2024 and effectively double to $17.9 trillion by 2030. Last year alone, the cost of cyber attacks would have made it the third-largest economy in the world behind the United States and China.

As for who bears the brunt of the cost, if you answered 'us,' you're correct. Looking into over 550 organizations hit by data breaches, IBM's 2023 Cost of Data Breach report arrived at this conclusion - additional costs passed onto consumers in various ways. So, the next time you see a subscription fee increase, one of the main reasons could very well be cybersecurity costs.

Continue reading: Cyber attacks are on the rise, and global costs will reach up to $18 trillion by 2030 (full post)

Three million smart toothbrushes infected by malware were used in a massive DDoS attack

Kosta Andreadis | Feb 7, 2024 12:33 AM CST

UPDATE: Turns out the following story was just a hypothetical situation and not real, an error in translation. "To clarify, the topic of toothbrushes being used for DDoS attacks was presented during an interview as an illustration of a given type of attack, and it is not based on research from Fortinet or FortiGuard Labs," Fortinet confirmed in a statement. "It appears that due to translations, the narrative on this topic has been stretched to the point where hypothetical and actual scenarios are blurred." The original story follows.

Three million smart toothbrushes infected by malware were used in a massive DDoS attack

In the age of every household object doubling as a smart device, this headline might not be as strange as it sounds - and could soon become the norm. It seems that recent Swiss DDoS attacks that caused millions in damage resulted from - get this - three million smart toothbrushes infected by hackers with malware forming a botnet. Yeah, it is not exactly something you can (apologies in advance) brush off - as it highlights some of the dangers of smart devices like toothbrushes connecting to a network for seemingly simple tasks like tracking oral hygiene habits.

Apparently, there was a vulnerability in the Java-based OS, but the report doesn't indicate which online toothbrush brands were involved in the attacks. Probably all of them when you consider that next to no one is sitting there updating the firmware and monitoring the network traffic on their toothbrush.

Continue reading: Three million smart toothbrushes infected by malware were used in a massive DDoS attack (full post)

Your webcam might be shuttered, but an ambient light sensor is also a risk for being spied on

Darren Allan | Feb 2, 2024 1:00 PM CST

If you were worried about your webcam being a privacy threat, well, here's some bad news - there's something else to be concerned about that snoopers could leverage on your devices, namely the ambient light sensor.

Your webcam might be shuttered, but an ambient light sensor is also a risk for being spied on

These light sensors are present with many pieces of hardware - from phones and tablets through to laptops, or indeed TVs - and as the name suggests, they detect ambient light levels in order to adjust screen brightness appropriately.

However, there's a dark side to the light sensor, in that it can be compromised to spy on you, rather like a webcam (which these sensors are often placed near in laptops), if not to quite the same extent in terms of the invasion of your privacy.

Continue reading: Your webcam might be shuttered, but an ambient light sensor is also a risk for being spied on (full post)

Fortnite maker Epic Games lays off 870 workers, CEO says Epic is 'far short' of sustainability

Derek Strickland | Sep 29, 2023 2:12 PM CDT

Epic Games, the company who has spent millions of dollars fighting Apple in court, today announced it has laid off hundreds of employees.

Fortnite maker Epic Games lays off 870 workers, CEO says Epic is 'far short' of sustainability

2023 is a year of exceptional volatility in the games industry, and not even the world's biggest companies are safe. Today Epic Games announced it would lay off around 870 workers in an effort to reduce costs. Epic's decision follow thousands of tech sector layoffs made throughout 2023, including gaming jobs that were pared back at Xbox, Electronic Arts, Activision, and the Embracer Group.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney says the company is simply "far short of financial sustainability," and confirms that Epic is spending more than it makes. Epic will divest--or sell off--recently-acquired subsidiary Bandcamp and spin off most of its SuperAwesome media division.

Continue reading: Fortnite maker Epic Games lays off 870 workers, CEO says Epic is 'far short' of sustainability (full post)

Ransomware group claims to have hacked all of Sony's systems, company 'currently investigating'

Kosta Andreadis | Sep 27, 2023 12:27 AM CDT

According to a new report at Cyber Security Connect, a ransomware group called Ransomed.vc claims that it has compromised all of Sony's system and is putting up all of the company's data for sale.

Ransomware group claims to have hacked all of Sony's systems, company 'currently investigating'

It's a bold claim and could be one of the biggest security breaches in a long time, especially when you factor in the size and scope of Sony's operations - which includes over 40 million PlayStation 5 owners and gamers.

Ransomed.vc announced the breach on its leak sites, adding that Sony isn't willing to pay for the data it's up for sale. The extent of the breach and the validity of the claim haven't been confirmed, with Sony offering a statement to IGN that says it is " "currently investigating the situation" though it offers "no further comment at this time."

Continue reading: Ransomware group claims to have hacked all of Sony's systems, company 'currently investigating' (full post)

Microsoft AI researchers accidentally expose 38TB of data to GitHub

Jak Connor | Sep 20, 2023 11:18 AM CDT

A staggering 38 terabytes of data was accidentally leaked by Microsoft AI researchers on the website called GitHub, according to a cloud security company report.

Microsoft AI researchers accidentally expose 38TB of data to GitHub

The new report released by Wiz, a cloud security company, among the leaked files, were two entire backups of workstation computers that contained confidential Microsoft information such as company "secrets, private keys, passwords, and over 30,000 internal Microsoft Teams messages". The incredibly large data exposure may result in Microsoft's AI systems being vulnerable to attack or any other Microsoft-related systems. So, how did this happen?

Unfortunately, it was a simple yet critical mistake that occurred when Microsoft AI researchers were trying to publish a "bucket of open-source training material" and "AI models for image recognition" to GitHub. The files' SAS token was misspelled, resulting in the public's storage permissions switching to the entire storage account rather than the AI material that developers were attempting to publish. Unfortunately, the bad news doesn't stop there.

Continue reading: Microsoft AI researchers accidentally expose 38TB of data to GitHub (full post)

Hackers claiming responsibility for shutting down MGM Resorts say it took just a 10 minute call

Jak Connor | Sep 14, 2023 5:43 AM CDT

The company wrote in a statement that it identified a cybersecurity threat in some of its systems that has resulted in its website being temporarily shut down.

Hackers claiming responsibility for shutting down MGM Resorts say it took just a 10 minute call

MGM Resorts released a statement that confirmed its systems powering a selection of its casinos along the Las Vegas stripe detected a cybersecurity issue that caused some slot machines being taken offline, with other gambling systems also being temporarily shut down. The company said it took "prompt action to protect our systems and data," but isn't sure how widespread the vulnerability is and what systems have been affected by the attack.

The ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware group have claimed responsibility for the attack in a forum post, where it boasts that it was extremely easy to gain access to MGM Resort's systems. The ransomware group claims they used basic social engineering tactics to gain the necessary information to access the systems in order to obtain data that would force MGM Resorts to pay a ransom. However, MGM Resort refuses to pay the group.

Continue reading: Hackers claiming responsibility for shutting down MGM Resorts say it took just a 10 minute call (full post)

Good-guy hackers destroy spyware across 75,000 phones

Jak Connor | Aug 29, 2023 8:16 AM CDT

A group of unnamed hackers have gained access to spyware firm WebDetetive to delete device information in a move to protect 10s of thousands of people from being surveilled.

Good-guy hackers destroy spyware across 75,000 phones

Spyware is exactly what it sounds like - a piece of software that grants remote access to an individual's device to spy on them. Through this access, users can listen in on victims' phone calls, read messages, track locations, send/receive data such as photos/videos, view screens in real-time, and much more. Typically, this type of software is used by nefarious people who are interested in tracking individuals, monitoring there whereabouts and to gather intelligence that is typically used to blackmail the victim.

However, spyware is also used by government agencies to catch criminals. WebDetetive was one of these types of spyware until a group of unnamed hackers accessed their system and removed the device information from 76,000 devices, along with more than 1.5 gigabytes of data stored on the spyware service's servers. It should be noted that these are claims from a group of hackers and are yet to be independently verified.

Continue reading: Good-guy hackers destroy spyware across 75,000 phones (full post)

WinRAR version 6.23 patches up a very serious security flaw, so make sure you update now

Kosta Andreadis | Aug 21, 2023 6:02 AM CDT

If you're one of them any PC users out there that use WinRAR to handle their compression-related tasks (it's still one of the most popular archive utilities), then you might want to make sure you update to WinRAR version 6.23. Grab it here.

WinRAR version 6.23 patches up a very serious security flaw, so make sure you update now

The latest version of the shareware app patches a rather significant security flaw dubbed CVE-2023-40477, allowing hackers to access memory beyond the allocated buffer.

The flaw would give hackers code execution on the target system, though only after opening a malicious RAR file. Still, you're looking at a very serious vulnerability when someone can execute commands on your PC simply because you opened a RAR file, let alone extracted its contents. The fact that it requires the user to open a specific RAR file dropped the security flaw's severity rating to 7.8.

Continue reading: WinRAR version 6.23 patches up a very serious security flaw, so make sure you update now (full post)

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