Bitglass Security Spotlight: Breaches Expose Millions of Emails, Texts, and Call Logs

By Will Houcheime, Product Marketing Manager, Bitglass

Here are the top cybersecurity stories of recent weeks:

—773 million email accounts published on hacking forum
— Unprotected FBI data and Social Security numbers found online
— Millions of texts and call logs exposed on unlocked server
—South Korean Defense Ministry breached by hackers
—Ransomware forces City Hall of Del Rio to work offline

773 million email accounts published on hacking forum
Data breaches have been a significant topic for organizations in the past few years, but this latest data breach in particular, emphasizes the importance of proper cybersecurity. This monumental breach revealed 772,904,991 unique email addresses and over 21 million unique passwords. This immense volume of credentials was posted to a hacking forum just two weeks into the new year.

Unprotected FBI data and Social Security numbers found online
A cybersecurity researcher by the name of Greg Pollock found 3 terabytes of unprotected data from the Oklahoma Securities Commission. This included sensitive FBI data, including files whose creation dated back to 2012. Social Security numbers were also found, some of which were collected as far back as the1980s. The FBI has not confirmed or denied the data breach but, according to UpGuard, the cybersecurity firm investigating, this data breach is significant and affects the entire agency statewide.

Millions of texts and call logs exposed on unlocked server
Voipo, a California communications provider, left a database full of text messages and call logs completely exposed. A cybersecurity researcher found this unprotected server with 6 million text messages and 8 million call logs. The data also included documents with encryptedpasswords that would put the company at risk if accessed by a malicious user.

South Korea Defense Ministry breached by hackers
Data on weapons and munitions acquisitions were exposed when a South Korean government agency's computer systems were breached. This data included military weapons such as concepts of fighter aircrafts. The attackers were able to hack into an unsecured server for a program that is present on all government computers. The South Korean National Intelligence Service investigated the data breach and, although they have disclosed the occurrence to the public, they have not announced whether or not they’ve discovered the identity of the hackers.

Ransomware forces City Hall of Del Rio to work offline
Del Rio City Hall servers were shut down after a ransomware attack. The Management Information Systems (MIS) department had no choice but to stop all devices from connecting to the internet to halt the spread of the malware. With no access to data online, employees of each department were then forced to use pen and paper for all of their daily operations. City Hall officials have reported the incident to the FBI but it is still unclear whether or not data has been compromised or who was behind the attack.

To learn about cloud access security brokers (CASBs) and how they can protect your enterprise from ransomware, data leakage, misconfigurations, and more, download the Definitive Guide to CASBs.