Cybercrime / Privacy

When the Center for Facial Restoration announced it had been hit by ransomware recently, the hack attack might have sounded like just another expensive cyber incident for a small business. But the hack of the rhinoplasty practice near Miami included another, darker threat. The criminals added another potential revenue stream [Keep reading]

Earlier this week, Bernie Sanders told The New York Times that he had no apps on his smartphone, citing a semi-anonymous but militant cybersecurity staffer named “Melissa” who keeps him safe.  There’s fresh evidence this week that we should all listen to Melissa. Two separate studies have found that seemingly [Keep reading]

It’s a bit early to declare there’s a new trend in ransomware attacks, but the devastating hack of Travelex currency exchange systems includes a twist that should concern many large corporations — hackers claim they have combined a crippling data encryption incident with an embarrassing data breach to severely up [Keep reading]

A 10-year-old archive of the message left on Twitter’s home page after it was allegedly hacked by an Iranian group. (Archived by UMBC – I’ve edited to remove the email address). Click for original.Start the new year by making good backups of your data.  This is always good advice, but [Keep reading]

Click to visit Wawa’s information page about the hackIf you used a credit or debit card at a Wawa convenience store or gas station between April 22 and December 12, your payment information has been compromised. The retail giant announced on Thursday that criminals managed to place malicious software on [Keep reading]

A big takeaway from my experience with this reporting: This is the decade we were brainwashed into surveilling ourselves. In just over 10 years we were sold a future of personalization and convenience and paid for it with little pieces of ourselves that we can never get back. — Charlie [Keep reading]

Combine old-fashioned money-mule-job-listing fraud with Zelle fraud and there’s a big new headache that job seekers and bank consumers have to worry about. Ngoc Nguyen says she lost $999 this way recently, and an Indeed.com user was an unwitting accomplice to the crime. So far, Nguyen’s financial institution – Regions [Keep reading]

Parents in Tennessee say a hacker sang songs to their children in their bedroom through a Ring camera. A Texas Ring user says she was threatened with extortion through her front doorbell camera.  In Florida, another victim told local media that a hacker started screaming racial slurs at a child [Keep reading]

Identity theft targeting family members is soaring, as is what I’ll call “desperation fraud” — opening credit accounts with no intention of paying, and little effort to disguise the fraud. These are two very bad signs for the economy, according to a firm that studies ID theft on a wide [Keep reading]