OpenWrt Forum Admin Account Suffers Data Breach

Author(s):

Caleb Townsend, Staff Writer, United States Cybersecurity Magazine

OpenWrt

OpenWrt, an open-source project that provides accessible, publicly licensed firmware that users can manipulate and modify, disclosed a breach occurring on January 16th, 2021. The breach involved a third-party user accessing an administrator’s account on the OpenWRT forum. According to a statement released on the forum, entitled “Security notice – Site break-in on 16-Jan-2021”, “The … Read more

Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Data Leaked by Hackers

Author(s):

Caleb Townsend, Staff Writer, United States Cybersecurity Magazine

Pfizer BioNTech Vaccine Breach

Following the unceremonious cyberattack on the European Medicines Agency, cybercriminals have leaked Covid-19 vaccination data from Pfizer and BioNTech. The EMA is a decentralized agency related to the European Union. They are responsible for both reviewing and approving vaccines before distribution. They are also the sole force in monitoring and evaluating these medicines. On the … Read more

Multinational Corporation Kawasaki Heavy Industries Hit With Data Breach

Author(s):

Caleb Townsend, Staff Writer, United States Cybersecurity Magazine

Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd, a multinational corporation mostly known for motorcycle, engine, and aerospace/defense manufacturing, was hit with a data breach. The breach shows that multiple overseas offices were subject to “unauthorized access”. Kawasaki confirms in a news release entitled “Concerning Unauthorized Access to Kawasaki Group” that the threat is suspected to be from outside the … Read more

The Biggest 2021 Cybersecurity Predictions

Author(s):

Caleb Townsend, Staff Writer, United States Cybersecurity Magazine

2021 Trends

2020 saw a whole host of new cybersecurity threat vectors that no one could have foreseen. Covid-19 brought forth complications and cyber-attack opportunities previously unprecedented. 2021 will have its own set of both problems, as well as developments. However, in many ways, the issues of 2021 will be the fallout of 2020. Here are predictions … Read more

Ransomware Hits Baltimore County Public Schools

Author(s):

Caleb Townsend, Staff Writer, United States Cybersecurity Magazine

desks in a class ransomware remote learning school baltimore

The Baltimore County Public School system has announced a cancelling of classes this morning. This was after an attack shut down school systems. This morning, at 9:11 AM, spokesman Mychael Dickerson confirmed on Twitter that Baltimore Country Public Schools was confirmed as the victim of a ransomware related cyber attack. “This caused systemic interruption to … Read more

Albion Online Game Suffers Data Breach

Author(s):

Caleb Townsend, Staff Writer, United States Cybersecurity Magazine

Kid playing online game Albion

On Saturday, October 17th, the online team of the free medieval fantasy MMORPG, Albion, revealed a data breach. According to the blog post on Albion’s forum, a bad actor gained access to parts of the user database. These forum user profiles included email addresses. In addition to the emails, the malicious actor also found encrypted passwords. “These … Read more

Shopify Reveals Data Breach, Blames “Rouge” Employees

Author(s):

Caleb Townsend, Staff Writer, United States Cybersecurity Magazine

Shopify

Canadian e-commerce company Shopify has announced a data breach affecting less than 200 of their customers. In a blog post entitled “Incident Update,” Shopify reveals that the breach was caused by two rouge members of their support team. Apparently, they were conducting a scheme to rip off customers by grabbing their transaction records. Shopify has … Read more

TikTok Ban Results in Oracle Deal After Security Concerns

Author(s):

Caleb Townsend, Staff Writer, United States Cybersecurity Magazine

TikTok

TikTok is a fast-growing, video-based social media service that has undergone intense scrutiny for being owned by a Beijing-based company called ByteDance. These concerns revolve around both their relationship to China and their access to our data. Though it ranks among the most popular apps in the world, India was one of the first countries … Read more

VA Hit With Breach Exposing Personal Data of 46,000 Veterans.

Author(s):

Caleb Townsend, Staff Writer, United States Cybersecurity Magazine

Veterans Affairs

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced a data breach jeopardizing the personal information of around 46,000 Veterans. In a statement released on Monday, the VA explains that the Financial Services Center (FSC) found an online application for Veteran’s medical treatment to be the entry point for hackers. According to the statement, “The FSC took … Read more

Distance Learning: What are the Cybersecurity Risks?

Author(s):

Caleb Townsend, Staff Writer, United States Cybersecurity Magazine

Girl at computer distance learning online skype teaching class

Covid-19 has fundamentally changed the way our society functions, as businesses, entertainment venues, and schools must adapt to the challenges of a socially distanced world. This week, most school districts will press forward with distance learning, in which teachers conduct a class over Skype adjacent apps, while students tune in from home. Distance learning provides … Read more