We cover a lot of security stories here at Techaeris and the topic is gaining more interest every year. We thought it would be fun to look back at the top privacy and data leak stories that we covered here. These top privacy and data leak stories are far from the only ones out there. Other sites have covered other stories we never had time to get to.
It’s mind boggling just how many privacy and data leak incidents there is every year. The problem is just going to increase year over year as most of us live our lives in the digital world. Protecting your private data is more important than ever and paying attention to these privacy and data leak stories is a great way to keep informed. Without further ado, these were the top privacy and data leaks stories we covered in 2018.
Orbitz data breach sees 880,000 payment card details stolen
Orbitz has suffered a data breach that affects 880,000 users. Hackers broke into what the company is calling “legacy Orbitz travel booking information” and stole payment card details. Included in the stolen details were phone numbers, full names, emails, gender, birthdates, and more. The company says the data breach was discovered March 1st while auditing the platform in question. The company says the hackers gained access to the information between October 1st and December 22nd, 2017. The stolen data was information from Jan 1st through June 22nd of 2016. Read the full story below!
[button link=”https://techaeris.com/2018/03/20/orbitz-data-breach-880000-stolen/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Techaeris[/button]Best Buy reveals some customer credit card info may have been compromised
Best Buy has revealed that it may have been impacted by the same data breach as Sears and Delta Airlines. Best Buy, along with the other two companies, used a service named [24]7.ai to provide customer service chat capability to its users. Best Buy says [24]7.ai informed them that an “illegal intrusion” was detected between September 27 and October 12, 2017. Read the full story below!
[button link=”https://techaeris.com/2018/04/07/best-buy-credit-card-compromised/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Techaeris[/button]Survey: 89% of Android users did not give Facebook permission to collect call and text data
Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg have been in the spotlight over the past week or so. It was the Cambridge Analytica situation that opened up the can of worms. Because of that, what we give Facebook permission to see has been the topic of discussion. Many users are surprised at their Facebook permission list and often don’t recall giving such approval.
TeamBlind set out to find out how many users actually gave Facebook permission to collect their call and text data. Here are their results from a sample size numbering just over 1300 Facebook users. Read the full story below!
[button link=”https://techaeris.com/2018/04/09/survey-89-android-users-facebook-permission-collect-call-text-history/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Techaeris[/button]Researchers find a way to create electronic master key for thousands of hotels
When you stay at a hotel, chances are good you’ll get a keycard to access your room or other guest-only areas. You might not think about that card too much, but it’s programmed with information necessary to grant you access to those rooms, while restricting access to, for example, your neighbor’s room.
All of that access is built based on software and encrypted keys, but what happens if someone finds a way around that encryption? A pair of security researchers found inspiration in a personal experience to try and discover whether or not they could access a hotel’s electronic locks in a way that could not be traced. What they found was that they could easily create a master key for an entire hotel. Read the full story below!
[button link=”https://techaeris.com/2018/04/26/researchers-find-a-way-to-create-electronic-master-key-for-thousands-of-hotels/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Techaeris[/button]Twitter recommends changing your password after internal audit shows they stored it in plain text
The news that websites, apps, or online services getting hacked or user passwords being leaked really isn’t news anymore considering the frequency it happens. The latest service to urge you to change your passwords immediately is Twitter. Due to a bug discovered during an internal audit, the company found a bug that stored unmasked user passwords in an internal log.
For those not password savvy, there are a number of methods to encrypt and secure passwords. When passwords are stored unmasked, or in plain text, anyone who has access to that file can see the password of every user contained within it. While Twitter uses a hashing (masking) function for user passwords, as they should, in this case, passwords were being stored internally unmasked. Read the full story below!
[button link=”https://techaeris.com/2018/05/06/twitter-recommends-changing-your-password-after-internal-audit-shows-they-stored-it-in-plain-text/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Techaeris[/button]Visited Chili’s Grill & Bar between March and April? Your credit card data may have been compromised
If you used your credit card sometime between March and April at Chili’s, it may have been compromised. The company said it discovered malware on its point-of-sale systems that
Equifax officially revealed the extent of its data breach — and it’s not pretty
Long after the initial media circus died down, Equifax has finally, officially, revealed the full extent of their recent data breach. The statement takes the form of an open letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and it delivers much more detail about the type of information lost to hackers back in September 2017. Read the full story below!
[button link=”https://techaeris.com/2018/05/14/equifax-officially-revealed-extent-data-breach/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Techaeris[/button]United Kingdom based Dixons Carphone suffers substantial data breach
Data breaches have become so commonplace that we pretty much expect them to happen at any time. The only question is. Who will it happen to next? This week’s victim is Dixons Carphone, a United Kingdom-based retailer that also operates Carphone Warehouse. The company announced that hackers accessed 5.9 million credit card details. Hackers also managed to get their hands on 1.2 million other records about Dixons Carphone customers.
[button link=”https://techaeris.com/2018/06/18/dixons-carphone-suffers-data-breach/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Techaeris[/button]adidas is the latest company to suffer a data breach affecting millions
Hacks and data breaches have become commonplace. Consumers are no longer overly surprised when news of a breach affecting millions is revealed. The best most can hope for is that their accounts weren’t compromised or that they can secure them before they are. adidas is the latest company to announce a major data breach and it affects millions of United States consumers. Read the full story below!
[button link=”https://techaeris.com/2018/06/18/dixons-carphone-suffers-data-breach/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Techaeris[/button]Facebook bans another app for leaking 4 million users data
Facebook has had yet another app leaking information about its users. The myPersonality app was found to have leaked the data of 4 million users to researchers and companies alike. The company has been auditing apps since the Cambridge Analytica debacle.
[button link=”https://techaeris.com/2018/08/23/facebook-bans-another-app-sharing/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Techaeris[/button]Google data breach undisclosed, “consumer” Google+ to be shuttered as result
According to a damning report from the Wall Street Journal, a Google date breach centered around their Google+ social media network was detected and then remained undisclosed by the search giant. As a result, Google is expected to announce new data privacy measures, one of which includes “permanently shutting down all consumer functionality of Google+.” Read the full story below!
[button link=”https://techaeris.com/2018/10/08/google-data-breach-undisclosed-consumer-google-plus-being-shuttered/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Techaeris[/button]Latest Facebook security issue affected almost 50 million accounts
Facebook security has become a hot topic even before Mark Zuckerberg‘s appearance before a congressional committee in Washington earlier this year. Now, a new Facebook security issue is being reported by the company. This time the security issue has affected almost 50 million user accounts. The Facebook security team discovered the issue on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 25th. Facebook says they are taking the problem “incredibly seriously” and are taking action immediately. Read the full story below!
[button link=”https://techaeris.com/2018/09/28/facebook-security-50-million-accounts/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Techaeris[/button]The recent Facebook security breach gave up details on at least 29 million users
It seems that the most recent Facebook security breach has given up details on at least 30 million users. The last report we had on the Facebook security breach pegged affected users at 50 million but Facebook has dug deeper into the issue. The company said they wanted to figure out exactly what had happened and help users understand the situation. The company is also not ruling out the possibility of “smaller-scale” attacks and they are still investigating those. Read the full story below!
[button link=”https://techaeris.com/2018/10/13/facebook-security-breach-29-million-users/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Techaeris[/button]Amazon data breach hits company just days before the Black Friday rush
Amazon data breach is something none of us wants to hear. Mostly because many of us use Amazon services. For Amazon, hearing Amazon data breach right before the Black Friday rush is a major blow to their image. While we don’t want to hear it, it has happened, an Amazon data breach that is. The data breach has been confirmed by Amazon and involves users email addresses and names.
[button link=”https://techaeris.com/2018/11/21/amazon-data-breach-hits-company-just-days-before-the-black-friday-rush/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Techaeris[/button]The Marriott Starwood Hotels hack began four years ago prompting some to ask how it was missed
The Marriott Starwood Hotels hack is rattling cages left and right. Not only because of the enormity of the users affected by the hack but also because it may have started four years ago. Given that the company operates properties all over the world. The Marriott Starwood Hotels hack is broad enough to have an affect on users worldwide. The short of it is that an still unidentified hacker stole user data including names, addresses, email addresses, passport numbers, and credit card information.
[button link=”https://techaeris.com/2018/12/01/marriott-starwood-hotels-hack-began-four-years/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Techaeris[/button]There you have it, some of our top privacy and data leak stories of 2018. That’s just a small handful of what we covered in 2018 for even more, check out our security archives!
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Last Updated on February 3, 2021.
