SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Earlier this week, in a startling revelation, 23andMe conceded that a hack in October was significantly worse than initially reported. Affecting nearly 6.9 million people, the scale of this data breach was shockingly larger than the initially stated figure of 14,000 users. Regrettably, the stolen data contained not only sensitive information such as full names, but genetic profiles. Yet, the severity of the situation was met with indifference by some … [Read more...]
New Service to Assist with WHOIS Lookups Launched by ICANN for Authorized Users
LOS ANGELES, CA - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) – the nonprofit organization that oversees the domain industry – has launched a new centralized online service to assist researchers, law enforcement, and others to request personal data from all public domain registration records. This new service comes after ICANN had instructed all registrars in May 2018 to redact personal data – such as a customer’s name, address, phone number … [Read more...]
Scammers Sending Emails from Spoofed Authoritative Domains Via Forwarding Flaws
LA JOLLA, CA - According to research conducted by the University of California San Diego, due to flaws inherent in the process of forwarding emails, the ability for scammers and attackers to send unsuspecting victims e-mails from the spoofed addresses of top-level government or corporate domains is actually much easier than many experts were initially suspecting, opening up disturbingly new and effective avenues for online fraud. The integrity of emails sent from … [Read more...]
Domain Registrar Namecheap Gives Away Half a Million Free .me Domains to Students
PHOENIX, AZ - Namecheap, the Phoenix, Arizona-based domain name registrar and web hosting company originally founded in 2000, recently announced that they have given away a total of 500,000 free .me domain names to students in conjunction with their Namecheap for Education program. The company originally started the program in 2014, which provides students, teachers, and others involved in academia who are located in North America, the United Kingdom, and … [Read more...]
Managed Care Confirms Serious Breach of Nearly 9 Million Patients’ Critical Info
ATLANTA, GA - Managed Care of North America, Inc. (MCNA), a major insurance company, suffered a data breach that exposed the personal information of nearly 9 million patients. The Atlanta-based company claims to be the largest dental insurer in the nation. According to reports, Hackers had access to MCNA systems from February 26 to March 7, 2023, compromising confidential patient information such as full names, addresses, birthdates, driver’s license numbers, phone … [Read more...]
Data Breach: Unauthorized Party Accessed DoorDash Customer Information
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - According to recent reports, a new data security incident has surfaced. DoorDash, a popular food delivery app, detected suspicious activity from the computer network of a third-party vendor, and determined the vendor was compromised by a sophisticated phishing attack. According to the report, certain personal information maintained by DoorDash like names, emails, addresses, phone numbers, and even partial payment card info have been affected. If … [Read more...]
Reported Twitter Data Breach Potentially Affects 5.4 Million Accounts
WEST PALM BEACH, FL – Stolen personal information from 5.4 million Twitter users has been discovered for sale on a hacker forum. With this information, including emails and phone numbers, cybercriminals can create profiles to target victims with spam or phishing attempts which could lead to identity theft. Twitter is currently investigating claims that a near-seven-month-old vulnerability in its software has been exploited and the hacker is asking for $30,000 for the … [Read more...]
LifeLock Confirms My Data Was Revealed on “The Dark Web” After 2021 “Epik” Data Leak
WEST PALM BEACH, FL – This morning I received an email notification that information or data which is presumed to be connected to my identity has been found on “The Dark Web” after the domain name and hosting company, Epik.com was hacked last year. The service is part of LifeLock by Norton. The following message arrived: Logging into my account a more detailed explanation explains that my personal information associated with the epik.com leak was located on the Dark … [Read more...]
Privacy Scandal: Has Your Data Been Stolen by These 10 “Known Tracking Domains?”
WEST PALM BEACH, FL - A new study has revealed that consumer email addresses are being collected by online login, registration, and newsletter subscriptions even before the user has manually submitted the form or even given their consent to have their personal information collected, igniting controversy over privacy rights – or lack thereof – on the internet. The goal of the study was to spot sites that pulled email and password information before users could … [Read more...]
Lights Out for Nearly 50,000 Websites As Brexit Results in “.EU” Domain Change
GREAT BRITAIN - As a potentially unexpected side-effect of Brexit – the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union in January 2020 – approximately 48,000 websites with the domain name “.eu” are now effectively in limbo, having been taken offline on Monday since the UK citizens and organizations who own them are no longer allowed to hold those domains. The revocation of those .eu domain names by the agency in charge of registrations on Monday was the … [Read more...]
Data Security Breach At Robinhood Exposes Personal Info Of Customers
PALM BEACH, FL - The Robinhood financial service company has confirmed a data security incident that has exposed full names or email addresses for approximately seven million customers, with a smaller subset having additional personal information revealed. These customers could be targeted with spam, phishing attempts, identity theft and more. No Social Security numbers, bank account numbers or debit card numbers were exposed according to the company. Robinhood … [Read more...]
Lawyer Says, “Shadow Group” Setup Website Proposing Assassinations
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A website that was online only a few days published the identities, including email and home addresses of various Republican and Democratic leaders as well as related employees of people the site claimed are responsible for “aiding and abetting the fraudulent election” against President Trump. The site, which has now disappeared, listed the personal details, including maps to the homes as well as headshots of the individuals inside crosshairs with an … [Read more...]
GOOG To Follow FB With Restrictions On Housing, Employment, and Credit Ads
WEST PALM BEACH, FL - Usually Google is a leader in all things advertising, however, a recent update to policy by GOOG (NASDAQ) will have it following Facebook (FB) where the ad giant will implement new targeting restrictions which could lead to 'societal biases' which have been in place by Facebook for some time now. In a message to advertisers, Google laid out the changes in an email notification letting advertisers know that the changes will be implemented effective … [Read more...]
It’s Only A Matter of Time Until You Need to Be Licensed to Operate A Web Server
PALM BEACH, FL – I have been thinking about this off and on for a few years now, but I have never really posted or written about it. That is because it is an awful prediction that I hate the idea of, but I think it is going to eventually happen. Here it goes…. I predict that to operate a web server sometime in the near future, you will be required to have a license, or have passed a basic course in IT security or Cybersecurity intrusion mitigation. Not at the single site … [Read more...]
10 Simple Yet Effective Security Tips To Keep You Cyber Safe and Worry Less in 2020
PALM BEACH, FL - There is no shortage of security breaches and data leaks reported in the news this past year. As we all move into 2020, here are some simple tips to help keep you stay cyber safe, so you can worry less and have more to look forward to this year. Don't Shorten 2020 in Dates You shouldn’t shorten the year 2020 when signing things. Scammers can easily change the abbreviated date, for example from “3/30/20” to “3/30/2018”. Make sure to write out the full … [Read more...]