6 billion records hacked so far this year: researchers

WASHINGTON - A surge in computer hacking has led to the breach of more than six billion records so far this year, topping the total for 2016, security researchers said Tuesday.

Virginia-based Risk Based Security said in its mid-year report that it identified 2,227 publicly disclosed data compromise events through June 30 affecting business, government, medical and educational data.

"It is stunning to see the steady increase in the number of breaches impacting one million or more records," said Inga Goddijn, Executive Vice President for Risk Based Security.

The report said hackers are increasingly targeting employment and tax records. Some attacks successfully used "phishing" or spoofing or emails to obtain tax information from US citizens. Other targets included human resources departments, employment agencies and aggregators of employment data.

"While news of politically motivated foreign interference in election systems continues to dominate the headlines, the breach activity we are tracking this year is a stark reminder of just how many data compromise incidents are motivated by financial gain," Goddijn said.

"As long as information can be quickly monetized and systems remain vulnerable to attack, we should not expect to see any slowdown in breach activity.”

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Yahoo says 500 million users hacked in 2014

Yahoo said Thursday a massive attack on its network in 2014 accessed data from at least 500 million users and may have been "state sponsored."

"Based on the ongoing investigation, Yahoo believes that information associated with at least 500 million user accounts was stolen," a statement from the US Internet giant.

"Yahoo is working closely with law enforcement on this matter."

The comments were the first confirmation from Yahoo on the huge data breach, and come after a report earlier this year quoting a security researcher saying some 200 million accounts may have been accessed.

Stolen information may have included names, email address, birth dates, and scrambled passwords, along with encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers that could help hackers break into victims' other online accounts, according to Yahoo.

The ongoing investigation suggested that looted data did not include unprotected passwords or information associated with payments or bank accounts, the Silicon Valley company said.

Yahoo is asking affected users to change passwords, and recommending anyone who hasn't done so since 2014 take the same action as a precaution.

Users of Yahoo online services were urged to review accounts for suspicious activity and change passwords and security question information used to log in anywhere else if it matched that at Yahoo.

"Online intrusions and thefts by state-sponsored actors have become increasingly common across the technology industry," Yahoo said in a release.

"Yahoo and other companies have launched programs to detect and notify users when a company strongly suspects that a state-sponsored actor has targeted an account."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Apple removes some apps from online store over security concerns

Apple Inc. said on Thursday that it had removed "a few" applications from its App Store, expressing its concern that the security of some users' personal data could be compromised in certain circumstances.

The company said the apps threatened users' security by installing certificates that can expose data to monitoring by third parties. The company did not specify the precise number of apps at issue.

"Apple is deeply committed to protecting customer privacy and security," an Apple spokeswoman said in a statement. "We are working closely with these developers to quickly get their apps back on the App Store, while ensuring customer privacy and security is not at risk."

Apps with so-called root certificates route user data to servers where it can be analyzed. That opens the door for network providers to view encrypted traffic, leaving users vulnerable to data breaches.

Among the apps removed was Been Choice, which has attracted attention for its ability to block advertising in apps.

An Apple spokeswoman said the company would release a support page to help users remove the apps in question from their devices.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com