Weekly Cybersecurity Recap January 6
Table of Contents
- By Steven
- Jan 06, 2023
First things first: Happy New Year from our team at IDStrong!
As far as hacks go, this year hasn’t started at the best pace, but we like to remain on the bright side. Even when the most basic staples in our lives become targets and victims of cyber attacks, it can begin to feel like nowhere is safe. Luckily, we’re dedicated to educating you on cyber safety and how to keep you and your loved ones safe online. Let’s look at this week’s most notable hacks; number four will intrigue, we promise.
Your Patient Advisor
Unfortunately, for everyone that used Your Patient Advisor (mostly adults over 45), the website was hacked recently. The worst part is that no one noticed the breach until the company received a notice that a bunch of its customers’ payment cards were being used without permission. Your Patient Advisor, a colonoscopy preparation aid, conducted an investigation and found that there was indeed a breach concerning a certain amount of its customers. The only thing the attacker accessed was payment card information.
P2 Energy Solutions
An accounting company for energy and power providers recently faced a hack between November 8th and 17th, 2021. The main issue this company faced was that so many individuals were affected, and it took over a year for victims to be notified. Only names and social security numbers were involved, but this affected 69 thousand individuals.
Rose Hospital
The St. Rose Hospital breach leaked almost two terabytes of PII (personally identifying information). As if the sheer amount of data involved wasn’t enough, the accessed information is some of the most sensitive there can be. The hack involved staff and patients’ phone numbers, names, birthdays, social security numbers, addresses, email archives, tons of medical information, business and financial data, and more, putting all the victims at increased risk for both cyber and real-life crime.
Twitter was hacked in early December when an unauthorized third party accessed some of the company’s files. A few weeks later, the hacker returned with an ultimatum. After sorting through the 400 million original files to remove duplicates and fakes, the hacker ended up with 235 million Twitter accounts in their possession. The hacker demanded $200,000 in exchange for not offering the information to the general public; for free. Twitter has yet to release a statement, but if the company acknowledges and confirms the breach, it will likely end up in the top ten hacks of all time.
Five Guys
The Five Guys breach is a surprisingly large issue. The breach affected every person applying for a job at any of the company’s franchises and a good number of its employees. Driver’s license numbers, names, and social security numbers were all accessed, which is a mercy. There are so many things that your employer knows about you these days, and it’s harmful if they don’t have the correct cybersecurity in place. The worst part is even if they do, you are still very likely to get hacked, as someone will always have the patience to get what they want.
