Friday Five: 5/8
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Nintendo suffers a server breach, a new phishing campaign targets the financial industry, and more - catch up on the week's news with the Friday Five.
1. Nintendo 64, GameCube, & Wii Source Codes Stolen & Put Online by Christopher Teuton
Just two weeks after 160,000 Nintendo Switch accounts were compromised by hackers, Nintendo has another issue on its hands, as source code for its Nintendo 64, GameCube, and Wii consoles have reportedly leaked. According to recent reports, the files were breached from a server belonging to BroadOn, a company that Nintendo hired for developing most of the Wii hardware and software. The leaks reportedly contain source code, design files, documentation, and even diagrams and descriptions for every component of the hardware. While the consoles involved in this particular breach are out of date, people could still use the leaked information to duplicate the technology for profit or simply teach themselves some new coding tricks. This breach is unlikely to cause any detriment to Nintendo players due to the age of the content involved but Nintendo should still consider strengthening their security measures.
2. Consumers Will Opt for Competitors After a Single Ransomware-Related Service Disruption by Help Net Security
Cyberattacks have become one of the biggest threats to businesses and in a recent survey of 2,000 consumers from North America, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, 70% of respondents say business aren’t doing enough to protect their personal information from being attacked. Consumers are becoming more educated as cyber threats become more well-known, and most are taking the necessary security precautions to protect their own online accounts. With this new knowledge comes increased scrutiny over businesses’ security practices. The study found that perceived trust has become more influential in consumers’ purchasing decisions, and that 59% would likely avoid doing business with an organization that experienced a cyberattack in the past year. Although some industries experience a higher rate of brand loyalty, over half of the respondents said they would turn to a competitor if an organization couldn’t restore systems within three days following a cyberattack. It is clear that businesses not only suffer financially from the downtime and restoration efforts caused by a cyberattack, but also from the effect it can have on brand image.
3. US Financial Industry Regulator Warns of Widespread Phishing Campaign by Catalin Cimpanu
A cybersecurity alert was issued by FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulation Authority this week that's warning member organizations of a widespread phishing campaign aimed at stealing Microsoft Office and SharePoint account passwords. The phishing emails are still ongoing according to the security alert. They were made to look like they were sent by two of FINRA’s vice presidents by using the domain of “@broker-finra.org.” A PDF file is attached to the phishing email which prompts victims to enter their Microsoft or SharePoint password if clicked. The accounts of some of the most powerful brokerage players on the New York Stock Exchange could be at risk if the attackers are successful. FINRA has recommended that anyone who entered their password through one these schemes change it immediately and notify their firm of the incident.
4. Snake Ransomware Attack Disrupts Operations at Hospital Chain Fresenius Group by Jay Jay
Fresenius Group is Europe’s largest private hospital operator and its dialysis products and services are currently in huge demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, a major ransomware attack, carried out by the Snake ransomware group, has disrupted operations at the Germany-based hospital operator and affected every part of the company’s operations around the globe. It’s not clear how hackers were able to plant the malware inside Fresenius’ systems but the company was likely a target because it had already paid a seven-digit ransom in the past to resolve a similar attack. Some cybercrime groups have backed off healthcare institutions amid the pandemic, but Snake ransomware has clearly not followed that pattern. Fresenius’ IT team has been working to solve the problem as soon as possible - while working prevent any further spread - but every additional day of downtime could prove disastrous for the hospital and its patients. The healthcare company had recently increased its capacity to care specifically for COVID-19 patients and its dialysis equipment is necessary to treat many of patients experiencing kidney failure.
5. Microsoft’s GitHub Account Allegedly Hacked, 500GB Stolen by Lawrence Abrams
A hacker going by the name of Shiny Hunters contacted BleepingComputer claiming to have stolen over 500 GB of data from Microsoft’s private GitHub repositories after hacking into the account. It appears that the breach may have occurred on March 28th based on the time stamps of the leaked files. The hacker initially planned on selling the data but then decided to leak it for free. Other threat actors on the hacking forum do not believe the stolen data is real or valuable as most of it appears to be code samples, test projects, an eBook, and other generic items. Overall, judging from what was shared, there is no indication that Microsoft should worry about anything else significant being leaked, but as always, any breach should be taken seriously. Microsoft has not yet commented on the legitimacy of the files or the status of the breach.
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