So Equifax was hacked. Like, badly. But how to tell if you, personally, are affected by the massive data breach? There’s a website for that — as long as you don’t mind forking over even more information to Equifax.
The credit reporting agency announced Thursday that private identifying information on potentially 143 million US citizens was accessed by “criminals,” and that the information in question could include names, social security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and even possibly driver’s license numbers.
Like we said, it’s bad.
But don’t worry! Equifax is here to save the day! And, like we said, if you trust them with your personal information (which, maybe not a great idea?), the process of determining if you’ll now need to keep an eye out for identity theft should be a breeze.
A hacking ring has stolen up to $1 billion from banks around the world in what would be one of the biggest banking breaches known, a cybersecurity firm says in a report scheduled to be delivered Monday.
The hackers have been active since at least the end of 2013 and infiltrated more than 100 banks in 30 countries, according to Russian security company Kaspersky Lab.
After gaining access to banks’ computers through phishing schemes and other methods, they lurk for months to learn the banks’ systems, taking screen shots and even video of employees using their computers, the company says.
At least $15 million was stolen via online infiltration of 15 financial companies — including JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C), E*Trade (ETFC), PayPal (EBAY), TIAA-CREF, and TD Ameritrade (AMTD) — overly a nearly two-year period. The perpetrators of the scheme were a group of hackers and identity thieves led by two Ukrainian nationals, according to authorities. Eight men have been charged, and four are in custody, the LA Times reports.
“Cybercriminals penetrated some of our most trusted financial institutions as part of a global scheme that stole money and identities from people in the United States,” said New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman in a statement. The criminal complaint against the men alleges that they moved money from online accounts onto prepaid debit cards, then used the cards to withdraw cash from ATMs or make purchases throughout the United States. According to the LA Times, “Much of the money that was cashed out was wired to the two leaders.”
Two years ago, Facebook’s security team began noticing a surge in a particular strain of computer virus. The malicious software stole credit card information and other personal data belonging to thousands of Facebook users and spammed their friends with links to rogue websites, creating a global network of infected PCs.At first, Facebook played defense, helping victims clean their computers and attempting to block each new strain of the malware known as “Yahos.” But the virus kept mutating to avoid detection. So Facebook’s researchers did something unusual for a business being hacked: They investigated the hackers themselves, placing the giant social network at the forefront of a more combative strategy in the war against cybercrime.
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James' World 2 