Reading Time: ~2 min.
American Newspapers Shutdown After Ransomware Attack
Nearly all news publications owned by Tribune Publishing suffered
disruptions in printing or distribution after the publisher was hit by a
ransomware attack. Many of the papers across the country were delivered
incomplete or hours or days late. Even some papers that had been sold off to
other publishers in previous years were affected. Fortunately, digital and
mobile versions of the newspapers were untouched by the attack, allowing users
to view local news as normal online.
‘PewDiePie’ Hacker Turns Focus to Smart Devices
The hacker previously responsible for hacking
thousands of printers and directing them to print ads in support of
PewDiePie, the world’s largest YouTuber, has now started using unsecured smart
devices to continue the campaign. In addition to requesting the “victim”
subscribe to PewDiePie, the hacker’s main message is to bring light to the
extreme lack of security many of us live with daily. By using the standard
ports used by smart TVs to connect to streaming devices, the hacker has even
created scripts that will search for these insecure ports and begin connecting
to them.
California Alcohol Retailer Faces Data Breach
One of the largest alcohol retailers in California, BevMo,
recently announced they’ve fallen victim to a credit card breach on their
online store. The breach lasted for nearly two months, during which time
customer payment card data for nearly 14,000 customers was illegitimately
accessed. While officials are still unclear as to who was behind the breach, it
is likely related to the MageCart attacks that appeared across the globe during
the latter half of 2018.
Blur Password Manager Leaves Passwords Exposed
An independent security researcher recently discovered a
server that was allowing unauthenticated access to sensitive
documents for well over two million users. The exposed information
included names, email addresses, IP addresses from prior logins, and even their
account password, though the company has remained firm that the passwords
contained within their accounts are still secure. Since the reveal, Blur’s parent
company, Abine, has prompted users to change their main passwords and enable
two-factor authentication, if they had not already done so.
Bitcoin Wallets: Still Major Target for Hackers
Nearly $750,000 worth of Bitcoin was stolen from Electrum
wallets in an attack that began only a few days before Christmas. By
exploiting a previously documented vulnerability, the hackers were able to inject
their own server list into the connections made by the Electrum wallet and
successfully rerout their victims to another server, where they were then
presented with a fake update screen. By moving forward with the “update,”
malware was promptly downloaded to the device and users could then enter their
wallet credentials, only for them to be stolen and their accounts drained.
The post Cyber News Rundown: Ransomware Hits Tribune Publishing appeared first on Webroot Blog.