Major companies and services were hit by data breaches this week. Some of the breaches were caused by internal mistakes, others were the result of coordinated gang attacks, and some were issues with outside services. All the different attack types make it clear that no matter how you run your business, there are data risks you must look out for, and as a consumer, you have to be careful to monitor your credit and finances closely.
Ferrari is a well-known luxury car manufacturer based out of Italy. The company creates some of the most beloved sports cars and is known for producing vehicles that stand out for their beauty and performance. The company began in 1947 and had been producing head-turning vehicles ever since. Ferrari is well-known for delivering an excellent customer experience, but the automaker recently suffered from a data breach that may have exposed some of its customers.
Postal Prescription Services is an Oregon-based mail-order medication business that sends medication to thousands of customers. It began associating with Kroger recently, and around the time of that merger, it suffered from a data leak. The grocery store chain Kroger is spread out over more than 2,800 separate locations, has over 465,000 employees, and serves millions of customers each year. As a result, many customers had some of their data exposed due to a mistake that was made.
Banks are entrusted with a great deal of personal information, money, and more by their customers. When a bank isn't able to secure those things, it's a major issue. This is an issue that the Tri-Counties Bank in Chico faced earlier this year. It wasn't money that the bank failed to protect, but customer information. The bank suffered from a serious cyber attack and lost confidential information in the process.
Proctor and Gamble is a massive production company that produces home goods under many different brands and sells them around the world. Major brands like Febreze, Olay, Pantene, Pampers, Gillette, Crest, Dawn, and so many others belong to the organization. Proctor and Gamble recently admitted that it also suffered from data losses linked to attacks on the GoAnywhere file transfer service.
ChatGPT is OpenAi's chatbot designed to simulate conversations with other people. The tool utilizes a massive language model to produce realistic and believable responses for a conversation. OpenAI offers a subscription service known as ChatGPT Plus that offers preferential access to the powerful AI system for subscribers. Some of these subscribers were exposed in the first-ever ChatGPT data breach that occurred in March this year.
The amount of content reaching the Internet every day is staggering. Digital data is created at around 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day. Still confused? Daily, one billion Gigabytes of data are created for us to consume. No matter how you look at it, that’s a lot of data up for grabs. In its basic form, “online piracy is the illegal copying or distribution of copyrighted material” via the Internet. Online and digital piracy continues to evolve as boundaries are set.
Impersonation has thousands of years of history. When we think of impersonating something or someone, at first glance, the intent is typically the act of deceiving someone. Identity and online impersonation are malicious intent crimes that have been around for decades. With new technologies and platforms, criminals find plenty of new victims and hunting grounds. Online impersonation and identity theft are somewhat similar in the type of crimes.
Independent Living Systems LLC is a healthcare facility provider for the elderly, physically challenged, and impaired. The company establishes short-term healthcare facilities for those that need extra care. If you or a loved one has utilized short-term living care at a facility, you may have relied on services from Independent Living Systems. Unfortunately, this healthcare provider recently suffered a massive cyber-attack.
Cyber-attacks are a major problem that exposes millions of people to fraud on an annual basis. This week there were attacks on some truly massive organizations like the NBA and PayPal, as well as a cyber security company and a few medical companies. The attacks put millions of people at risk, and they could lead to huge financial losses. Find out all the details about these attacks below and learn if you were put at risk by any of them.
Rubrik is a security company that specializes in cloud data management services. The company helps store and secure information for customers, and it's vital that it is able to keep that data safe. This is why hearing about a possible cyber-attack on the company is alarming. Rubrik was hit by the same GoAnywhere security vulnerability that dozens of other companies suffered from.
NorthStar Emergency Medical Services is an ambulance service based in Searcy, Arkansas. The company manages three EMS stations in the surrounding area and helps patients get the emergency help they need rapidly. This service provider takes medical information from patients it serves, and it may have just exposed tens of thousands of its past patients to internet hackers in a recent data breach incident.
PayPal is a leading payment transfer service in the United States and other parts of the world. The company got started as a peer-to-peer payment solution and has evolved into a robust payment transfer solution for business and personal use.
The NBA is a national sports league that manages many different leagues under its umbrella of organizations. The league has the NBA 2K League, NBA, Basketball Africa League, the WNBA, and the NBA G League. Each of these different organizations trusts the company with their information, and each one could have been exposed in the recent data leak by the company.
Cyber attacks are targeted at significant organizations, and this week is an excellent reminder that medical facilities aren't safe. Along with AT&T and Minneapolis Schools, three different medical establishments were hit and suffered from a loss of information in one way or another. Zoll, a Medical device and technologies company suffered staggering losses, while Cerebral gave up mental health information and Lawrence General Hospital lost HIPAA-protected information.
Lawrence General Hospital is a private facility located in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The hospital is a non-profit organization and offers patients throughout the surrounding area a variety of services. A total of 189 beds are contained within the facility, and it maintains a staff of approximately 2,000 people while earning about $281 million in annual revenue. This large-scale hospital recently suffered from a serious cyber attack that exposed many of its patients.
The Minneapolis public school district includes approximately 100 primary and secondary public schools. Between the many different schools, approximately 36,000 students are served by about 1,500 teachers. The district is currently suffering from a ransomware attack supposedly and is being extorted for a $1 Million payment by a ransomware gang.
Zoll is a medical device and technologies company that offers its services to EMS, fire professionals, and rescuers. Even the U.S. Military relies on technologies from the company in order to save lives. Zoll recently suffered from a cyber attack that may have exposed over 1 million individuals. The attack happened fast and was coordinated by an unknown group, and we still don't have all the specific details yet.
Cerebral is an online mental health company that's attempting to bring mental health care to patients around the country virtually. The company deals with tens of thousands of patients, and we've just learned that many of those patients may have had their information exposed to companies like Meta, Google, and TikTok. Cerebral is a startup company, and unfortunately, it isn't that unusual for startups to suffer from data issues such as this one.
AT&T is a massive telecommunications company with its headquarters in Dallas, Texas. The company is known as the largest telecommunications company in the world according to its revenue, and it is the third-largest mobile phone service provider in the United States. The company recently suffered an attack that exposed some of its customer data to hackers and may have put customers at risk. The attack wasn't on AT&T directly but on one of the company's external marketing vendors instead.
DC Health Link is part of the Affordable Care Act online marketplace of health insurance plans. The service provides health care to members of Congress as well as many staff members throughout Capitol Hill. This healthcare service was recently the victim of a cyber attack and suffered a serious data breach that exposed hundreds of politicians and Capitol Hill staff members.
It's been a rough week for major companies and the government as well, with the week finishing off with Washington D.C. lawmakers having their health information exposed. This week's attacks make it very clear that nobody is safe from cyber gangs and hackers. Dole, Dish Network, and Acer all suffered data losses this week, as well as the Crystal Bay Casino.
Acer is a well-known tech company that's based in Taiwan and with facilities and offices around the world. The company's main headquarters are in San Jose, California, in the United States. The company is known for engineering, technical manufacturing, and creating many products in the electronics industry today. The organization recently suffered a significant data attack that may have exposed company secrets, product keys, and many software images that could hurt the organization.
Crystal Bay Casino is a gambling establishment located in Lake Tahoe. The facility includes slots, table games, and sports betting and features a small hotel known as the Border House for gamblers to stay in luxury. This luxury casino was recently hit by an attack on its IT servers, and its customers may have had their confidential information exposed in the attack. Learn about the full scope of the attack and how the casino is responding to this incident to protect its customers.
Dole PLC is a massive agricultural company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Dole has several offices and production facilities in the United States and supplies food products in 75 separate countries. The company maintains a staff of over 38,000 employees and offers more than 300 different products throughout the world.
Dish Network is one of the largest American television providers in the country today, offering television service through a direct-broadcast satellite network. The company serves more than 7.4 million customers and maintains over 16,000 employees to keep everything running properly. This huge broadcast network recently suffered from a ransomware attack that interrupted its broadcast service and may have exposed its customers as well.
