The Cyber News Rundown brings you the latest happenings in cyber news weekly. Who am I? I’m Connor Madsen, a Webroot Threat Research Analyst, and a guy with a passion for all things security. Any more questions? Just ask.
Hackers Blackmail Surgery Patients
Hackers have begun contacting victims of a March data leak that exposed a database containing photos and other sensitive patient information. The majority of victims are linked to a Lithuanian cosmetic surgery clinic, and have received demands ranging from $40 to a full Bitcoin to prevent their photos from being released. Unfortunately for some of the patients, at least 25,000 photos have already been published, likely in an attempt to incite other ransom victims to pay.
Chipotle Payment Systems Hacked
Over the past few months, officials have been sorting out the severity of the Chipotle data breach that occurred between March and April of this year. As of the most recent statement, restaurants in 48 US states have been affected. The data that has been compromised consists of customer names and credit card information, but the company is working with multiple banks to assist any impacted customers.
Judy Malware Wreaks Havoc on Google Play Store
In the past week, Google has removed over 40 apps from the Play Store that were infected with “Judy” malware. Most of the apps were available in the store for quite some time, meaning the number of affected users could be in the millions. Fortunately, Google has recently released a new service that will continuously scan Android® devices for any malicious activity.
Phishing Study Reveals Interesting Results
A recent study conducted by Ironscales monitored 500,000 unique mailboxes from 100 different companies. The study revealed that, over the course of nearly 8,500 attacks on the boxes, many focused on only a small percentage. Additionally, nearly 80% of phishing attacks were able to bypass the email filter and remain undetected, while those with more brand-oriented themes were caught almost immediately. It also pointed out that, while less than half of these attacks lasted longer than 24 hours, the ones that made it past 30 days were capable of sustaining themselves for up to a year or more.
Game Hackers Mod Nintendo Game Cartridges
While the practice of hacking games is nothing new, several hackers in the community have found a way to create a full Hex editor within Super Mario World, using nothing more than standard controller inputs. By jailbreaking the cartridge to store user-written data in the small game save files, they have been able to mod the game, giving players a wide variety of special perks, and even changing the color schemes of game levels.
