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.

Consumer Credit Reporting Agency Equifax Suffers Cyberattack Affecting 143 Million Customers

Equifax announced hackers gained access to sensitive company data that potentially compromised information for 143 million American consumers, including Social Security numbers, driver’s license information, and credit card details. This is the third major cybersecurity incident for the agency since 2015. Most concerning, Equifax knew of the breach on June 29 but waited until September 7 to disclose the information.

Instagram Hack Exposes Millions of Accounts

A group of hackers recently gained access to a large number of Instagram accounts for high-profile celebrities and other victims. The attackers were able to use an exploit in the Insta app to retrieve the email addresses and phone numbers for millions of account holders. They then used this information to take control of more valuable accounts and posted the credentials for sale on the dark web. While Instagram was quick to fix the bug, it is still unclear just how many accounts were compromised.

Customer Databases Belonging to Time Warner Cable Publicly Exposed

In the last week, officials have been working to trace the cause of a data breach that could affect nearly 4 million Time Warner Cable customers. The breach appears to have stemmed from two databases, managed by Broadsoft Inc. (a partner of TWC), that were left fully accessible to the public. The data in question spans millions of transactions and communications with customers who have used the MyTWC mobile app in the last 7 years.

PrincessLocker Ransomware Uses Exploit Kit to Spread

While PrincessLocker may not be the newest or most dangerous ransomware variant currently making the rounds, it propagates through an unusual method: exploit kits. Along with a less expensive ransom demand, PrincessLocker has been spotted as the payload for a fully automated exploit kit known as RIG, which uses drive-by attacks to exploit system vulnerabilities.

Energy Grid Hackers Play Waiting Game

As cyberattacks focus more and more on infrastructure, rather than financial gain, they leave the future of many cities and countries uncertain. Many modern hackers have managed to work their way into countries’ infrastructures by easily bypassing the poor security used by numerous largescale energy facilities around the world. They’ve left backdoors into systems that could cause major disruption to the surrounding geographical areas, and, unfortunately, many of these very systems have never been updated appropriately. Meanwhile, attackers have nothing but time on their side to determine how and when it would benefit them to exploit these vulnerabilities.

Poker Site DDoSed, Then Ransomed

Late last week, America’s Cardroom and Winning Poker Network fell victim to the latest in a long string of DDoS attacks that have plagued such sites for years. This latest attack, however, brought with it a ransom demand to stop the attacks. The sites claim to have mitigated the DDoS attacks, though that comes after nearly 2 days of cancelling poker tournaments due to the insufficient bandwidth for their players.

About the Author

Connor Madsen

Threat Research Analyst

As a Threat Research Analyst, Connor is tasked with discovering and identifying new malware variants, as well as testing current samples to ensure efficacy. Don’t miss the latest security news from around the world in his weekly Cyber News Rundown blog.