IT Security Stories to Watch: Pentagon Gets Breached
Hackers reportedly breached an email system used by the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
And as a result, the Pentagon tops this week’s list of IT security news makers, followed by Yahoo (YHOO), American Airlines and Bitdefender.
What can managed service providers (MSPs) and their customers learn from these IT security news makers? Check out this week’s list of IT security stories to watch to find out:
1. Did Russian hackers attack the Pentagon?
Russian hackers allegedly launched a cyber attack against 4,000 military and civilian personnel who work for the Joint Staff, according to NBC News.
The incident occurred sometime around July 25. U.S. officials shut down the entire Joint Staff unclassified email system after the attack.
No classified information was seized or compromised during the attack, U.S. officials said. In addition, officials noted that they expected the Joint Staff’s email system to be back online before the end of last week.
2. Malwarebytes discovers Yahoo malvertising campaign
Internet security software provider Malwarebytes has discovered a large-scale cyber attack abusing Yahoo’s ad network.
The malvertising campaign began July 28, and Yahoo has taken steps to eliminate security issues related to the incident.
“Yahoo is committed to ensuring that both our advertisers and users have a safe and reliable experience. As soon as we learned of this issue, our team took action and will continue to investigate this issue,” Yahoo said in a prepared statement.
3. Was American breached?
Airline carrier American said it is investigating whether hackers breached its computers. Bloomberg reported that China-backed hackers may have been behind the cyber attack.
However, American officials have not yet confirmed whether its systems were breached.
“Based on our deep and extensive investigations with the help of outside cybersecurity experts, American has found no evidence that our systems or network have experienced a breach,” an American spokesperson said.
4. Bitdefender admits data breach
A hacker recently threatened to release information about Bitdefender’s customer database, ZDNet reported.
The cyber attacker demanded $15,000 from Bitdefender and threatened the leak of a customer database online unless the ransom demand is accepted.
Bitdefender admitted the breach occurred but also said “less than 1 percent” of its small and medium-sized business (SMB) customers were affected.
What are your thoughts on this week’s IT security stories to watch? Share your thoughts about this story in the Comments section below, via Twitter @dkobialka or email me at dan.kobialka@penton.com.
